A Certain Hero
by Leona-do
Summary: Shirou Emiya did not expect to find a girl on his balcony. What he did not know was that encounter would spiral into a series of events that would eventually lead to World War III. He was once the Forge Hero, and once more he takes up the mantle. He was after all a Hero of Justice. This is his story. A story to become the savior of World War III.
1. Hero

**Chapter One "Hero"**

"…?"

Shirou Emiya would hang a futon over the railing of his apartment's balcony to air dry. When he looked closer, he realized it was not a futon at all, but a girl wearing white clothes.

"Hahh?!"

The real futon fell from his hands.

It was a mystery. In fact, it was nonsensical. As if she had exhaustedly collapsed across a metal rod, the girl had her waist pressed up against the balcony railing and her body bent such that her arms and legs were dangling straight down.

Her age was about seventeen or eighteen. She looked about the same age as Shirou. She must have been foreign because her skin was pure white and her hair was as well... No, silver. Her hair was rather long, so it completely covered her upside down head, hiding her face from view. Shirou guessed it must go down to her waist normally.

"What is an Executor or Exorcist of the Church, doing on my balcony?" Shirou Emiya muttered in disbelief. "No, that isn't as crazy or an impossibly as I think it is."

He shook his head when he recalled a certain, curry-loving member of the Burial Agency. She had caused all sorts of incidents. Some of them so absurd that finding an Executor or Exorcist on his balcony was seemed very ordinary. Shirou recalled how one time kidnapped dozens of chefs in the pursuit of mastering the art of curry-making.

Shirou snapped out of his musing and turned his attention to his balcony.

The girl wore habit that a nun. Her clothes looked a bit like a long dress that reached her ankles, and she wore a one-piece hood over her head that was a bit different from a hat. However, while normal nun's habits were jet black, hers was pure white. Embroideries made of golden thread were sown in. On the surface, it looked like the clothes she wore was nothing special. To Shirou, who was excellent in finding magical energy, the clothes the girl wore oozed with mana. Clothes that were made from a Holy Shroud.

The girl's lovely fingertips twitched. Her head slowly rose from its hanging position. Her silk-like silver hair smoothly split to either side like a curtain and the girl's face appeared from between the long, long hair.

"I…" The girl's cute but slightly dried lips slowly moved. "I'm hungry."

"…"

"I'm hungry."

"…"

"I'm hungry."

"…"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm hungry?"

The silver-haired girl seemed to get a little irate at how Shirou stood there, frozen.

"Ah, umm…" he said as he stared at the girl draped over the balcony railing. "What? Are you trying to say you collapsed from exhaustion or something?"

"You could also say I have collapsed and am about to die."

"…"

"It would be great if you could feed me enough food to fill me up."

"Why don't you come in and make yourself at home. I will whip something up." Shirou said as he made his way to the kitchen and fired up the stove.

\- O -

"I suppose I need to start with an introduction." The girl said as she finished the meal that Shirou had made for her. "My name is Index."

 _Index? That sounds more like a codename, and codenames are usually associated with their skillset. Does she know a lot of magic?_ Shirou wondered.

"As you can see, I am from the Church. This is important. Oh, but I'm not from the Vatican. I'm from the Anglican Church."

"What other names do you go by?"

"Hmm, is Index lacking? Well then, my magic name is Dedicatus-545, meaning the devout lamb protects the knowledge of the strong."

He completely ignored that last statement as it was evident that it would make no sense to him without context. "So why were you hanging out to dry on my balcony?" Shirou asked the girl.

"I wasn't hanging out to dry."

"Then what were you doing? Were you blown over and landed there?"

"...Something like that. No. I fell. I was trying to jump from rooftop to rooftop."

"But that's eight stories high? One wrong step and you'd be heading straight to hell."

"Yes, you don't even get a grave if you commit suicide," said Index cryptically. "But I had no choice. I had no other means of escape."

"Escape?" Shirou frowned at that ominous word.

"Yes," said Index like a child. "I was being chased."

"..."

"I made my jump fine, but I was shot in the back in midair." The girl calling herself Index seemed to smile. "I apologize. It seems I was caught on your balcony as I fell."

She tossed an innocent smile in Shirou Emiya's direction without even a hint of self-deprecation or sarcasm.

"You were shot...?"

"Yes? Oh, you don't need to worry about a wound. These clothes also function as a defensive barrier."

"Okay, you said you were being chased. Chased by whom?"

"Hmm…" she said with a slightly dry throat. "Now who was it? Maybe it was the Rosicrucians or S∴M∴, also known as Stella Matutina. I think it was a group like that, but I don't know their name yet. …They aren't the type to find meaning in names."

"They…?" Shirou asked.

"Yes," said Index surprisingly calmly. "A magic society."

"Prove it?!"

"Eh? Huh?"

"Prove it. That you are a magician."

"I have no magic power, so I can't do that."

"…" Shirou sighed. He found that hard to believe as she didn't seem showing any signs of mana exhaustion. "Well, whatever. So, why are they chasing you?"

"…It's because I am the Index."

"Hah?"

"They are likely after the 103,000 grimoires that I have."

Shirou Emiya's head began to hurt. That was an incredible number of magical tombs. The sort with arcane knowledge that gathered from all around the world, covering entire branches of magic, spanning over generations. There were few places in the world that had that much arcane knowledge stored in one place, and the Clock Tower was one of the place that Shirou Emiya remembered from his former homeworld. The sort of knowledge that entire magical organization would willingly to sacrifice alot in attempt to gain.

"What kind of books are we talking about?"

"The Necronomicon, the Book of Eibon, the Lemegeton, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Cultes des Goules, and the Book of the Dead are good examples."

His headache got worse. Those were the wet dreams of magicians. Each and every one of those given examples were legendary magical tomes. They were the holy grail of knowledge for selective magical branches. The sort that magicians would be willingly to kill friends and family to get. Even if the girl was to contain a copy of those books, they contained the same knowledge as the originals. If the girl was telling the truth, then she was akin to a guide to creating a nuclear bomb in magical terms.

"So, where are these 100,000 books? Do you possess the key or know where the books are located?"

"No." Index shook her head. "I have every single one of the 103,000 grimoires with me."

 _Does she possess an internalized Bounded Field to store all those books? Maybe she could be like me, possessing a Reality Marble to store all those books?_ Shirou Emiya began to deduce. "Do you have any allies? What kind of personal protection do you have? What are your abilities?"

"Here! These clothes! They're the highest quality of defensive barrier called the Walking Church!" Index boosted.

Shirou believed her. The clothes she wore was a copy of the Shroud of Turin, the cloth worn by the saint that was stabbed by the Lance of Longinus. It turns aside or absorbs any attack, be it physical or magical. A very powerful cloth that could withstand anything short of a Noble Phantasm or something of that class. Clothing known as the Walking Church.

"That answered one of my question. What about the other two? Do you have allies? What are your abilities?"

"I don't… any allies and I don't have any mana to use magic." Index said in a quiet tone. "If I stay, they'll likely come here."

That smoothly delivered response left him speechless.

As Index slowly exited the front door, Shirou frantically ran after her.

"W-wait, that's not it! Do you have somewhere to go once you leave? You can hide here. I will ensure your safety. I promise."

"If I stay here, the enemies will come."

"How can you be sure?"

"That's not true." Index pinched at the chest of her clothes. "This Walking Church functions using magical power. The church seems to call it 'divine power', but it's the same mana. Simply put, the enemy seems to be searching for the magic power in the Walking Church."

"Wait a second. I told you. I will personally ensure your protection. You have my word."

Index stared at him blankly. With just that look, she truly, truly seemed like nothing more than a normal girl.

"…Then, will you follow me to the depths of hell?"

She smiled. It was such a heartbreaking smile that left Shirou speechless for an instant. Index had used kind words to implicitly say, "Do not come with me."

"Of course, I will." Shirou Emiya said without a thought.

"Huh?" Index said, dumbstruck.

"Exactly what I mean. I offer you sanctuary."

"Don't worry. I just have to keep at it until I find a British church."

Shirou Emiya sighed. The girl was too stubborn. She probably thought the he was an ordinary boy that would not be able to help her out. That was far from it. He was Shirou Emiya, the Forge Hero. Someone that had succeeded where Counter Guardian EMIYA had failed. He had become a hero of his own merit, in the modern era. In death, he had should've ascended to the Throne of Heroes, but somehow didn't.

"Sleep." Shirou chanted, activating one of the many functions of the Bounded Field around his home.

"Wah. Why do I feel…. So, sleepy… I think I'm going to take a nap…" Index said sleepishly before she collapsed on the ground.

"Well, don't worry. I will take care of you. My home's Bounded Field should protect you while I go to class."

\- O –

"When the hell could Index use magic? This magic is incredible complex and powerful, but the knowledge she has is more than enough create something like this."

"Hm? Who would you be, and why are you doing infront of my home?" Shirou Emiya asked as he walked from class.

The white man was over two meters tall. His great height was characteristic of foreigners, while his clothes were a pure black version of the habits worn by church priests. His shoulder-length blond hair had been dyed red like the sunset, silver rings glittered on all ten of his fingers like brass knuckles, poisonous earrings hung on his ears, a cell phone strap could be seen sticking out of his pocket, a lit cigarette moved at the edge of his mouth, and, as if to complete the image, he had a barcode-like tattoo underneath his right eye.

One could not call him a priest and yet, neither could one call him a delinquent.

"So, you must be the one that Index had used. Even a normal human like you would be able to do something like this with the aid of Index."

"I asked once, and I will say it again. Who would you be, and why are you doing infront of my home?"

"I would prefer to call myself as Stiyl Magnus, but I guess I'll have to go with Fortis-931. That's my magic name. Not familiar with those? It seems we magicians cannot give our true name when we use magic. It's an old tradition, so I don't really understand why myself."

"…""Fortis… I guess in Japanese it would mean 'the strong'. Well, the etymology doesn't really matter. What's important is that I have given that name. For us magicians, it is less a magical name when spell casting and more like…"

"You really do like to talk a lot don't you."

The smile that he had worn disappeared.

However, this lasted only an instant. The cigarette in the corner of his mouth twitched back up as if he had suddenly remembered to smile.

"Why are you here, magician. Why are you trying to retrieve her?" Shirou continued.

"Hm? Oh, I see. You knew the word magician, so I assumed you were completely filled-in. I guess she was afraid of getting you involved." The magician exhaled cigarette smoke. "Yeah, we need to retrieve her. Technically, it isn't her we need to retrieve though; it's the 103,000 grimoires she has."

"…"

"The Index Librorum Prohibitorum is an archive created by the Church. A resource on just about just every magic that magicians use. A go to resource in one place for Executors and Exorcists to consult without having to go all over the world to find the magical information they need." said the magician in a bored sounding voice despite the fact that he was smiling.

"Don't be ridiculous! There is no way, that many books can be stored within a girl. Just where exactly are these books?" Shirou demanded, fishing around for information.

"Oh, they're there, in her memory," the magician said as if it were obvious fact. "Do you know what an eidetic memory is? It seems to be the ability to memorize anything you see in an instant and never forget even a single sentence or letter. Simply put, it makes you a human scanner." The magician smiled disinterestedly. "It has nothing to do with our occult or your science fiction. It's a natural condition. She has been to the British Museum, the Louvre, the Vatican Library, the Pataliputra ruins, Château de Compiègne, Mont Saint-Michel Abbey, and everywhere else that has grimoires that cannot be taken from where they are sealed. She stole them with her eyes and stores them as a grimoire library."

Shirou had been incredible wrong. His initial assumption that Index had physically stored a copy of library of magical tomes within her was wrong. It was all memorized. A library worth of magical tomes through memory.

"Well, she has no ability to refine magic power herself, so she's harmless." The cigarette in the corner of the magician's mouth moved up happily. "But since that stopper was prepared, the Church must have some concerns. Well, that has nothing to do with a magician like me. At any rate, those 103,000 grimoires are quite dangerous, so I came to shelter her before anyone who would use them comes to take her away."

"To… shelter her?" Shirou Emiya was utterly astonished.

"Yeah, that's right. Shelter her. No matter how sensible and good hearted she may be, she cannot stand up to torture and drugs. The mere thought of handing a girl over to the likes of them hurts my heart, y'know?"

Shirou's body trembled. He had dealt with enough magicians to know where this was going. The magician before he was like so many magicians that Shirou had hunted down with extreme prejudice. The sort of magician that didn't care about their humanity and the lives of others in their pursuit of research. He wanted to kill the man from where he stood.

"You are going to regret treating her like that."

The magician named Stiyl Magnus grabbed the cigarette from his mouth and flicked it away to the side. The lit cigarette flew horizontally, over the metal railing, and hit the wall of the neighboring building. An orange line traced the cigarette's path as an afterimage and sparks flew when it hit the wall.

" _Flames_." The instant that Stiyl muttered, the orange line exploded.

A sword of flames appeared in a straight line as if someone had turned on a fire hose loaded with gasoline. The paint gradually changed color like a picture being scorched by a lighter.

Shirou Emiya covered his face with his arms.

" _A gift of pain for the giant._ "

Stiyl Magnus swung the blazing flame sword horizontally at Shirou Emiya. The instant it touched him, it lost shape and exploded in all directions like an erupting volcano. Heat waves, flashes of light, explosive noise, and black smoke burst in every direction.

"Maybe I overdid it."

Stiyl scratched at his head in front of what looked like the aftermath of a bombing. Just to be sure, he looked around to see if anyone was coming out to see what was going on. It was the first day of summer vacation, so most of the residents of that boy's dorm would be out. However, it would be bad if some friendless shut-in was in one of the rooms.

He could not see ahead directly because of the screen of flames and smoke.

However, he did not need to check. That strike had created hellish flames of 3000 degrees Celsius. At temperatures above 2000 degrees Celsius, the human body would melt before it burned which meant the boy likely looked similar to the metal railing that had melted like a sugar sculpture. It was probable that he was splattered across the dorm wall like a used piece of gum.

Stiyl heaved a sigh as he reflected on how right he had been to get the boy away from Index.

Stiyl sighed again. The Bounded Field was incredible powerful and complex. Something that he alone could do take down in several minutes, no not even hours. Something that could take days to unravel.

Stiyl shook his head in annoyance and spoke as he peered into the smoke one last time as if he could see through it.

"Thank you. Excellent work but too bad. Well, at that level, you couldn't win even if you had a thousand tries."

"You are really underestimating me."

For an instant, the magician froze in place at the voice coming from those hellish flames.

"Honestly, I had expected more." Shirou said with the sides of his mouth twisted in disinterest. "Is this all you can do?"

"…Wha-?"

Meanwhile, Stiyl very nearly took a step backwards in shock of the incomprehensible phenomenon before him.

Shirou Emiya stood there.

The metal railing had been melted like a sugar sculpture, the paint on the floor and walls had peeled, the fluorescent lights had melted and dripped down in the intense heat, but the boy had remained unharmed in the middle of those unworldly flames and scorching heats.

From what had become of the surroundings, that attack could not have been a dud. But did that mean that boy was powerful enough to withstand 3000 degrees? No, if so, he would not have been human.

"I see…" Stiyl said as he recovered. "Your clothes changed. A Holy Shroud like the Walking Church that Index wears. It provides protection from both physical and magical attacks."

"It is called the Shroud of Martin. Something that provides protection similar to the Walking Church, but not as powerful as it."

Shirou Emiya wore a black body armor made from a special material that has yet to be discovered by mankind as of the present time, which consisted of a black tight and sleeveless shirt with sliver accents which outlined his muscles and a metal plate on his collar, and black pants that had two black straps on his thighs, and another two strapped around his shins separate from each other. He wears black metal plated shoes, which appear to be attached to his trousers. And over everything was his red coat, made out the Holy Shroud known as Shroud of Martin.

"Now it makes sense, that Index sought you out. You're a member of the Church."

The crimson flames did nothing to Shirou's Noble Phantasm, Armor of the Hero. The fire that could melt even metal was nothing compared the Armor of the Hero that had withstand the might of Heroic Spirits. Only Noble Phantasm or magic that ranked at a similar level could hope to scratch his clothes.

In a perfect circle around Shirou, the scorching flames continued to burn.

Shirou Emiya looked at the magician standing before him with a smile.

"Tch!"

He narrowly dodged a pair of black and white sabers from cutting him as he ducked. The two sabers returned to their master's hand and Shirou Emiya charged forward.

Stiyl swung his right hand horizontally. The flame sword that appeared followed suit and flew forcefully toward Shirou. It exploded. Flames and smoke flew about. But after the flames and smoke were blown away, Shirou Emiya stood there just as before.

"He wasn't lying when he said that he was wearing something like the Walking Church?" Stiyl muttered under his breath.

"!"

To hide the shudder spreading through his body, Stiyl created another flame sword and attacked Shirou. This time, it failed to even explode.

Shirou just charged through the flame sword and the flame sword shattered like glass and disappeared into thin air. He had charged through a 3000 degree flame sword with no magical reinforcements of any kind.

Shirou Emiya was closing in at Stiyl.

" _One of the five great elements from which the world is constructed_  
 _The great flame of the beginning  
It is a light of blessing that raises life and a light of judgment that punishes evil  
It is overflowing with calm blessings and with freezing misfortune that destroys cold darkness  
Its name is fire and its role is the sword  
Be manifested and become the power that eats into my body!_"

The torso of Stiyl's priest's habit swelled out and forces from within popped off the buttons. With the roar of flames sucking in oxygen, a giant mass of fire shot out from within his clothes.

It was not merely a mass of flames. The crimson burning flames had something black and dripping like fuel oil at its core. It was in the form of a human. The thing was reminiscent of the seabirds dripping with black fuel oil after a tanker accident, and it was eternally burning.

Its name was Innocentius. Its meaning was "I will surely kill you."

The giant flame god who bore the meaning of certain death spread its arms and charged toward Shirou Emiya like a bullet.

"Out of the way."

Shirou used a backhanded blow with the annoyed attitude of someone brushing aside a spider web.

He cut apart Stiyl Magnus's final trump card. The blades cut through the human-shaped fuel oil symbolizing the giant flame god burst into spray and scattered about the area.

"…?"

Shirou Emiya had no real reason for not taking his last step at that moment.

It was simply that Stiyl was still smiling despite having his final trump card destroyed. That expression was enough to make him hesitate before carelessly taking that last step.

The sound of a viscous liquid moving could be heard from all around.

"It's never easy." Shirou muttered.

The black spray returned from all directions, gathered in midair, and reformed into a human shape.

The oily fuel within the flames writhed, changed form, and now seemed to be holding a sword in both hands. No, it was not a sword but a giant cross, over two meters long, of the crucifying type. It lifted the cross up with both hands and aimed a downwards swing at Shirou's head like a pickaxe.

"…!" Stiyl said in alarm.

It was one thing to come in possession something as rare and powerful as a Holy Shroud but to possess a weapon that could withstand the might Innocentius was something entirely different. It was very rare for an individual to carry more than powerful magical artifact. Only those that had wealth to procure such powerful artefacts or skilled enough to be trusted with more than one had one or more powerful and rare magical artefacts.

Shirou held up Kanshou to meet the cross.

Stiyl stared in disbelief at the failure of Innocentius, an incredible powerful fire spirit fail in a test of strength against a human, a spirit that possessed the strength of several grown men. The one Index had sought out for help was someone of incredible strength if he could easily compentent with Innocentius' physical strength. He became dumbstruck when a second later that it was Innocentius's cross that was pushed aside instead of Shirou's weapon.

Kanshou easily cleaved through the spirit once more and dispersed it.

"Attacking Innocentius will have no effect. It cannot die. No matter how many times you kill it. It will only reform." Stiyl boosted as he recovered from his shock.

"Runes. That is what allowed you to summon the spirit and also continue to maintain its existence." Shirou Emiya identified.

"H-how?" Stiyl stammered as how quickly his enemy had deduced the method of his summoning.

"You put them everywhere. Only a blind fool would be unable to see them." Shirou said in a mocking tone as he pointed to the written paper that plastered the ceiling, floor and walls.

" _Ash to ash_ "

Shirou frowned. A flame sword had appeared in Stiyl's right hand.

" _Dust to dust_ "

Another one. A bluish-white burning flame sword extended silently from his left hand.

" _Squeamish Bloody Rood!_ "

With those power-filled words, he swung the two flame swords horizontally so that they would slice from left and right like a giant pair of scissors. The two flame swords struck and the forces morphed into one enormous, exploding bomb.

\- O -

When the flames and smoke cleared, the entire area looked like hell.

The metal railings had warped like sugar sculptures, and even the floor tiles had melted into something glue-like. The paint on the walls had peeled such that the concrete was visible.

The boy was nowhere to be seen.

Stiyl didn't the presence of his enemy, so he had had to have retreated.

"But…" Stiyl gave a gentle smile. Shirou now knew a method to deal with Innocentius. "So, what?" Stiyl's expression showed no sign of concern. "You can't do it. It is utterly impossible for you to completely get rid of the runes carved into this building."

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

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 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


	2. Saint

**Chapter Two "Saint"**

"What has stopped you from retrieving Index?" A girl asked.

The girl was about a head shorter than Stiyl. But then, Stiyl was over 2 meters tall, so the girl was still tall when compared to the average Japanese height. Her waist-long, black hair was tied in a ponytail, and at her waist was a sheathed Japanese sword over two meters long. She wore used jeans and a white shirt. For someone reason, the left leg of her jeans was completely cut off up to the base of her thigh, the extra cloth at the bottom of her T-shirt was tied off so her midriff was visible, she wore knee high boots, and her Japanese sword was hanging down in a leather holster like a pistol. She looked something like a sheriff from a Western who had traded their pistol for a Japanese sword.

Stiyl stared through his binoculars at the apartment.

"The Bounded Field around the apartment is ridiculous. The sheer amount of defensive power is beyond anything used to protect something as unimportant as residence of a high school student. It would be more in place with protecting places of importance such as a magic archive, treasury or residence of an important magician." Stiyl said in disbelief. "I tried for hours take down the Bounded Field but it didn't work."

"What was the problem?"

"At first, I thought it was a simple, but robust Bounded Field. Something that would resist force, but taken down easily when applied at the right places. I was proven wrong after I attacked what I had thought was the weak spots. I was deceived and found an expertly hidden layer of magic. So, I thought this was the true weakness points, only to discover another layer. Only to repeat again to find another hidden layer. It went on and on until I just gave up on trying to take down the Bounded Field. There are so many layers to the Bounded Field it ridiculous, and each layer was stronger than the last."

"So why didn't you try get the magician. He would be able to bring it down if you used force to coerce him."

"He ran away. I couldn't track him down to as he was so good in covering his tracks."

"Why didn't you wait for him to come? The Bounded Field was located where he lives."

"I waited for three days! Three days in which I didn't see him return. Three days where I didn't move, eat or sleep, and just watched his apartment. That was when I gave up, alright!"

"…"

"…"

"The boy Index is with… I've looked into him."

"So, what kind of information did you gather on him?"

"Official documents paint him as a Child Error, an orphan that grew up and has never left Academy City in his life. There were no indications that he had met anyone remotely related to magic. Obviously, everything official that I looked up on him is wrong if he knows how to use magic and incredible skilled at it. So, I consulted with our side to see if they were any records of him. There were a few people with the same name as him but no one of them had remote resemblance, age or lived in this era as the 'Shirou Emiya' that you encountered. Hence, we are looking at someone that has a lot of influence to remove any records about himself or he is an unknown until we encountered him."

"So, we basically know nothing about this guy beside what I discovered while fighting him?" Stiyl lit the cigarette he pulled out by staring at the tip. "Damn. We know nothing about him, but he is incredible skilled in magic and dangerous."

"That is why I will take him this time. He has already fought you and knows how you fight. He doesn't know about me. I might be able to win against him." Kanzaki Kaori narrowed her eyes. "If by the unlikely chance that I lose that you can join in."

"Winning the fight isn't necessary. We have the number advantage. He is only one individual. He must eat and sleep. Times when he lets his guard down. Then we strike when an opportunity presents itself."

"That method relies on a lot of patience and time. Time that will don't have the luxury of. The longer Index is not in our care is more time for those who seek her out to locate her."

"Look. Information about him had been deliberately altered about him. That means we are dealing with not just him, but several individuals or an organization that made altering his official information possible. We have an unknown number of enemies and no chance of backup. The wait and see game might be the only route if we don't get reinforcements."

"Yes," Kanzaki nodded. "In the worst-case scenario, this could develop into a battle against an organization. Something that will not be good for us as there are only two of us."

"Well good luck, Kanzaki. I hope you will be able to defeat him, cause from that brief encounter despite him running away I believe I would've lost."

\- O -

There was no one there.

No one entered or exited the major department stores that lined the road. The footpath that usually felt overly narrow because it was filled with pedestrians now felt horribly wide. The normally packed road was devoid of cars. There was not a single presence of human life. It was the work of a Bounded Field that prevented normal humans from entering by redirecting their attention elsewhere with a hypnotic suggestion that it was empty.

"You must be, Shirou Emiya." A feminine voice called out.

The girl waltzed out from behind a pillar and walked. She walked and stopped. Straight in plain sight without hiding behind anything. She stood in the center of the wide runway-like road.

At first glance, the girl wore T-shirt and jeans with a leg boldly cut off to be a normal teen. It was her unusual additions such as two meter plus sheathed Japanese sword hanging from her waist like a pistol that made it abundantly clear that she was not an ordinary girl.

"…Who are you?" Shirou asked.

"I am Kanzaki Kaori…I would prefer to not give my other name, if possible."

"Your other name?"

"My magic name."

Shirou Emiya frowned. He didn't recall magicians having something like a "magic name". Many magicians were given a title if they were skilled or famous to be associated with them. Another reason that a magician might have another name could be to protect themselves or those close to them. He shook his head. The conventions he was used to were those of his former live, a life in a different reality. Things could be different in the world that he now lived in.

"Not interested." Shirou said without a hint of curiosity.

"What?" Kanzaki said in amazement.

"Does it matter?"

"It is a name to determine your purpose in the pursuit of magic…"

"I said not interested."

"Either you're really backward to not know about the meaning of magic names or you just disregard the tradition."

"…"

"I shall enlighten you if you don't know what it means to give your magic name. It is the same as announcing that we shall have a duel to the death." Kanzaki closed one eye. "I would like to avoid that, and just take Index into our care."

"…And if I refuse?" Shirou asked, rhetorically.

"Then I will have no choice." Kanzaki closed her other eye. "I will forcefully take Index into our care."

In the next instant, the air above Shirou's head was sliced apart. A blade of a wind turbine behind him to the right was silently sliced through diagonally as if it were made of butter.

"Ignoring my warnings will only lead to death."

Kanzaki's two meters plus sword was already in the scabbard.

With a loud thud, the sliced wind turbine blade fell to the ground behind him. Though the wreckage of the blade fell so closely by, Shirou would've been hit if he had taken a few steps to his right.

He was not one bit fazed by the little display of power. Shirou Emiya had fought humans and monsters that had shown more incredible show of strength. Such as destroying entire buildings with instance. That told him either two things. Kanzaki was not as powerful as the enemies Shirou had fought in the past or that she severely underestimated him and thought her show of force would scare him into submission.

The speed in which she was attacked was commendable for a human. It was by far amongst the upper level of speed he had witnessed achieved humans achieved, but compared to individuals like Servants, it was nothing. The attack might've unnerved most humans, but to him it was a pathetic show of strength.

"Do you truly want to go through this route? The fact that you decided to talk to be and not outright attack with the element of surprise means you don't want to use violence."

"I will ask you again." Kanzaki narrowed her eyes slightly. "I would like to take her into our care without having to give my magic name."

" _Trace On_." His favored weapons of choice appeared in his hands.

"Is that Kanshou and Bakuya?" Kanzaki said in disbelief as she stared at the two sabers.

"Hoh? You recognize these?" Shirou asked in interest as few ever recognized the weapons without prior knowledge about him.

"Of course, I would." Kanzaki said. "How do you possess them? I have seen them in the treasury of the Chinese government, and I doubt they would bid farewell with such historical artefacts."

"Who knows? This could be fakes?"

"They are not fakes. The quality of the craftsmanship and material rivals of the originals. They are incredibly good replicas."

Shirou smiled. He took proud in his work. Not in its application, but the time and effort he spent in honing his craft. Tireless for decades, without a single day of rest, he had spent practicing before his reincarnation into his second life.

The peace didn't last for long.

In an instant, Kanzaki's right hand blurred and disappeared. With a roar, something flew at Shirou with frightening speed. Shirou felt something coming from all directions.

It was like a giant tornado made up of blades of air.

Shirou watched as that typhoon sliced the asphalt, the streetlights, and the trees lining the street at set intervals to pieces as if it were an industrial water jet cutter. A fist-sized piece of asphalt flew through the air. He looked around while moving only his eyes. One… two… three, four, five, six, seven. A total of seven linear sword slices continued for a few dozen meters across the flat ground. The cuts came in at many seemingly random angles and deep gashes that a bear would make on tree bark.

He heard a click as her katana returned to its scabbard.

"I will ask as many times as necessary. Stand down and allow me to take Index or I shall do so over your corpse. I would like to take her into our care without having to give my magic name." With her right hand, still on the hilt of her sword, Kanzaki simply spoke her words with no malice or anger. "The speed of the Nanasen attack that my Shichiten Shichitou creates is enough to kill you seven times over in an instant."

"Hmmhmm." Shirou smirked. "I shall show you speed."

"What?!" Kanzaki shouted in alarm as she blocked an attack from behind.

Shirou Emiya had reappeared behind her and attacked her so with so much speed that she didn't even have time to take her two meter long katana out of its scabbard. She blocked with her sword still in its scabbard. To her much surprise, her scabbard that was enchanted to protect her sword when it was sheathed was easily cut through. The scabbard that was stronger than steel was cut through like nothing. She would've been cut had it not been for her sword, but even then her sword struggled to resist.

The longer the blades were locked, the longer her blade was under immense stress. More strength was exerted by Shirou the longer they were locked in place. It was when Kanzaki heard the groaning sound of her blade, did she realise if she remained as she was then there was a chance her blade could break.

She caved in and backed off, jumping back a far distance to put some space between her and the enemy.

Kanzaki stared in disbelief at the state of her blade. Where the katana had been locked in place against Shirou's blade was a deep gash that cut through a substantial amount into her katana's half a centimeter thick blade. Her katana was not made out of ordinary steel. It was crafted through refined metals that alchemists produced and forged through a skilled arcane blacksmith. Even then, she had further enhanced her katana with magic of her own to create a blade that was several magnitudes stronger than ordinary swords.

"Kanshou and Bakuya truly live up to their fame as being forged by a legendary blacksmith." Kanzaki said in a mixture of awe of the blades and jealousy as she wanted them for herself.

"Thanks for the compliment, but that isn't going to change the outcome of the fight."

Shirou disappeared again.

Kanzaki barely had time to protect herself again. A flurry of arrows came at her faster than bullets. She was barely able to deflect the arrows, but when she did was when she realized the danger she had just averted. Each arrow hit with so much force that she might as well have been attacked by artillery. The deflected arrows through sheer force alone imparted enough kinetic energy upon impact that large craters had formed where the arrows had been deflected.

"Haaaaahaaaaaaa…" Kanzaki panted as she struggled to regain her breath. She blocked one more arrow. Then something that she never imagined that would happen, occurred. "No way…"

She stared in disbelief at what was happening before her very eyes.

Her precious sword, a sword that had lasted so much punishment over the years she had used it, had for the first time in her life, broken. No, broken was an incorrect term. It had been shattered. The on slaughter of arrows that had left scratches on her katana, somehow shattered her blade into large and small fragments. Kanzaki's instincts told her that it was the culmination of damage from the arrows that had done the work.

The rain of arrows had ceased for a moment.

That was when Kanzaki, recovering from the shock of her destroyed weapon, found her opponent. To her shock, her opponent was now standing the rooftop of a three storey building. In his hand was a gigantic black bow that was easily longer than two meters. Shirou Emiya stared down at her like she was his prey. A bird ready to strike at her.

Jumping the height of several meters was an easy task with magic, whether it was through body enhancement or some other magic. What shocked Kanzaki was the distance and time it took to make it. The only method she knew that could cover that much distance that quickly was teleportation. She now had to factor in that her opponent could teleport into the equation.

She re-evaluated her current situation.

Her main weapon was destroyed. The weapon that allowed her to attack not just in melee but also at a distance through using her katana as a magic tool to use wind magic. While she was a powerful magician, her strongest abilities came in a form of swordsmanship. If she was deprived of her blade then she was severly handicapped. That wasn't to say that she didn't have other methods to fight. She still had her magic she could rely on.

"Who do you work for?" Shirou asked.

"I'm not going to…"

Kanzaki quickly ran for her life. Asphalt and concrete was thrown into the air as fragments from the explosions that occurred around her. Whenever she attempted to move, the arrow was quick behind her. She reached for a building only to see it come crashing down in a matter of seconds from the arrows exploding with the sheer force behind them.

"Who do you work for?"

Kanzaki turned around and stood with the blue moon's perfect circle behind her.

"Surrender and leave. Forgot about Index. I will forgive all that has happened until now." Kanzaki said in confident tone.

"Hoh? You got a trick up your sleeve."

Shirou Emiya jumped back. The sound of wire moving. A spider web formed out of extremely thin wire stood were he had been moments ago, and the wire easily cut through concrete.

"So, all that running was a distraction? I did find it truly strange that you were doing nothing but running without trying to surrender."

"Will you not surrender?"

"This again? I thought you would forgot about that. It is obvious that neither side is going to back down."

Kanzaki was about to control her wires when something smashed into her solar plexus before she could. All the air in her lungs burst from her mouth. It had been like being struck with baseball bat to the chest. Her body smashed into the ground.

The arrow travelled faster than the previous ones. Previous arrows that moved several times faster than a bullet. This arrow was so fast that a bullet wasn't comparable. Thankfully the arrow had blunt head as if it had been sharpened then no doubt that it would've pierced right through her and the kinetic energy transferred from the sheer momentum that allowed the arrow to travel would crushed her vital organs.

She gasped in surprise when she found something that whistled towards and landed just centimeters beside the right of her neck. This time, it wasn't an arrow. Kanzaki eyes followed the pommel down to the pointed blade that was buried in the concrete. An honest to god sword had been shot at her if the fact that she had seen her enemy notch and fire was anything to go by.

Her eyes fall upon her enemy. She had to re-evaluate her opponent. Stiyl had reported that Shirou Emiya was a magic swordsman. Someone that used magic to enhance their physical ability while relying on their swords skills rather than magic beside physical enhancements to defeat the enemy. It seemed her enemy was skilled in further disciplines, and he was rather good at them too. He was also a magic archer, someone that used magic to enhance their physical prowess and the abilities of their projectiles.

"Why are you protecting her? Is it because you're using her for the 103,000 grimoires?"

"Not, I didn't protect her because of the knowledge that she possesses. No. In fact, learning about that wants me to protect her even more. 103,000 magical tomes, and some including the most sort after ones, is an archive of knowledge that could potentially end human life if fallen into the wrong hands." Shirou responded. "I will protect her, and if you truly not using Index for your own uses then you would not fight me. Instead, you would be helping me."

"How do I know that you're not using her?!"

"I told you. Stop fighting me then!"

"You first."

"This isn't going anyway." Shirou sighed then he disappeared.

"What?!" Kanzaki said before she was driven into the wall. "Gah!" She coughed out blood as she saw Shirou infront of her. "How is that possible?"

"If you thought the speed that I had shown was impossible for humans then you have yet to see the strongest humans can do." Shirou said as he took a step back and withdraw the fist that he had driven into Kanzaki's stomach.

Kanzaki collapsed into the ground after the fist that had smashed and pinned her to the wall was withdrawn. She looked up at disbelief. While she had yet to show the full extent of her strength, the speed and strength behind Shirou's movement was beyond anything she believed possible for humans. What she had mistaken as teleportation had instead been pure speed. So fast that her eyes couldn't keep track. She knew it was speed as opposed to teleportation because she had seen the last moments of him charging into and punching her into the wall.

"Our fight has caused enough property damage as it is. So I need you to sleep while I repair everything."

"What do you mean by th–"

Then everything went black for Kanzaki.

* * *

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 **Leona-do**


	3. Memory Restoration

**Chapter Three "Memory Restoration"**

Shirou Emiya looked down at his prisoner. He would understand if she was a magician that she was after the knowledge of 103,000 grimoires within Index, but she wasn't. But she was not doing that. She said she wanted to protect Index. If that was the case then why did she refuse to cooperate with him? Well he would get to know after interrogating her.

"Oi, wake up." Shirou poked the unconscious and restrained prisoner. "Wakey, wakey."

"Aaaaarrrrggghhhh." Kanzaki Kaori groaned as she began to stir. "Styil you made me drink so much again that I have a massive headache. I also had a really bad nightmare…"

"Your friend Stiyl Magnus did make you drink and neither did you have a nightmare."

"Heh!" Kanzaki said in surprise but began to get her bearings. "So this means you have captured me. You will not make me talk."

"Whether or not you willingly co-operate is something that doesn't matter. I have my ways."

"Then… Grrrkkk!" Kanzaki began to choke.

"There is a magic collar around your neck. It has various functions, but the two most important ones are that it removes your ability to use magic and I can use it to track where you are. And I can also use like a choking device at any given notice."

"Bastard." Kanzaki spat out. "A little bit of choking isn't going to make me talk."

"…" Shirou remained silent. "The only reason I'm not outright torturing you for the information is simple. You said that you wanted to protect Index right? Then tell me. Why?"

Kanzaki then reconsidered for a moment. There was no point in refusing to talk about information that wasn't necessary important to her faction. It would only result in unnecessary resistance when she could save herself from the pain and instead conserved her strength to resistance torture about important information.

"The organization I belong to is the same as Index. I am from Necessarius of the Anglican Church. She is my colleague… and my precious friend," said Kanzaki.

The Church of England? Shirou would never imagine the Church of England being involved in something like this. The Magic Associations called England its home. Their influence and resources were so deeply in route there that he didn't know of the Church of England being involved in the arcane. Then again, he was going on the knowledge of his past life. The arcane world could be different in the world of his reincarnated life.

"Why would Index run away from you then? If you belong to the same organization as her?" Shirou inquired.

He did not understand. He did not understand what she was saying. After all, it made no sense. Index was trying to escape to the Anglican Church while being chased by magicians. How could those magicians be from that very same Anglican Church?

"Have you ever heard of an eidetic memory?" asked Kanzaki Kaori. Her voice was weak and she looked pained.

"Yes. It is the ability to recall something in great detail after being exposed to something a few times."

"Yes, that is right. Index memorized 103,000 grimoires. She is, without a doubt, a genius," declared Kanzaki. "To the extent that using her ability in the wrong way could cause a disaster. The reason why the higher ups in the Church do not treat her normally is clear. They are afraid of her. Everyone is."

It was no surprise to anyone with even the smallest amount of knowledge of magic knew what kind of havoc could be wrought through 103,000 magical tomes collected from all around the world. That many magical tomes, including some of the most sought after ones in the arcane world, was a recipe for disaster in the wrong hands. A recipe that could be compared the blueprints to constructing a nuclear weapon in normal terms. Shirou was not surprised if people were scared of Index. As an archive of magical knowledge she was an incredible threat.

"If you belong to the same organization then why are you chasing her or running away? Was it because she decided to betray Necessarius?"

"No, nothing like that." Kanzaki protested.

"Then why?"

"…What does she look like to you?"

"Just a girl."

"Over 85 percent of Index's brain is filled with the 103,000 grimoires. The remaining 15 percent is just barely managing to function enough for her to be the same as us."

"…So what?"

"She remembers nothing. She remembers neither our Necessarius affiliation nor the reason for her being chased. Because she does not remember, she has to use her knowledge to fill in the gaps. It is only natural to assume magicians chasing the Index Librorum Prohibitorum are from a magic cabal after her 103,000 grimoires."

"But, wait. Wait a second. That doesn't make sense. Index has an eidetic memory, right? So why did she forget? What made her lose her memories?"

"She did not lose them." Kanzaki stopped even breathing. "Technically, I erased them."

"Pfft! That is a great excuse. A shitty one that I have heard of." Shirou laughed.

"What do you mean? Do you know why I had to erase her memories! Every year we have to erase her memory not related to the 103, 000 grimoires so she wouldn't die." Kanzaki roared as she threshed around in her restraints and cried. "Do you know how painful it is. Stiyl and I were one of her closest friend. To see her forgot everything about us. Year after year, we had to erase her memories so she didn't die. We tried to become her friends again after again following the annual memory erasure to save her life."

"…"

"The specifications of the human brain are surprisingly limited. The only reason a human brain can keep functioning for 100 years is because unneeded memories are disposed of by the process of forgetting. For example, you don't remember what you ate for dinner a week ago, do you? Everyone's brain undergoes this maintenance without them even realizing it. Otherwise, people would be unable to live. But," Kanzaki said with an icy voice, "She cannot do this."

"…"

"She cannot forget anything: be it the number of leaves on the trees lining the road, the faces of each and every person during a rush hour, or the shape of each and every raindrop falling from the sky. All of those pointless, garbage memories fill up her mind in no time." Kanzaki's voice froze over. "Having only 15 percent of her brain leftover is a fatal tragedy for her. Since she cannot forget on her own, her only way to live is to get another to force her to forget."

"…"

"Now do you understand?" Kanzaki Kaori asked. She had no tears, as if refusing to allow herself to display such cheap expressions. "We wish her no harm. In fact, there is no way to save her without us."

"…"

"Also, if we erase her memories she will not remember you. You saw how she viewed us, did you not? No matter how she feels about you now, once she opens her eyes, you will be seen as nothing more than a natural enemy after her 103,000 grimoires."

"If she only forgot, couldn't you just get rid of the misunderstandings by explaining it all to her? Why did you leave it at the status quo? Why did you chase her around like her enemy!? Why the hell did you just decide to abandon her!? Do you have any idea how she fee-…"

"Shut up! You know nothing! Don't act like you understand! How do you think we've felt erasing her feelings all this time!? How could you possibly understand!? You thought Stiyl trying to kidnap Index for his own goals, but do you know how he felt seeing her with you!? Do you know how he suffered!? Do you know how hard it was for him to name himself her enemy!? What do you understand about Stiyl's feelings as he continued to sully himself for the sake of his precious comrade!?"

"Wha-?"

Before he could raise his voice in shock at her sudden change of behavior, Kanzaki began threshing at her bonds like a madman. She completely disregarded her own safe of safety and hurted herself in an attempt to break free.

"We tried, too! We tried everything we could! We spent spring trying, we spent summer trying, we spent fall trying, and we spent winter trying! We promised to make memories that she would never forget and we made journals and photo albums!"

To Shirou's disbelief, the girl who was completely unable to use magic to enhance her physical abilities began to weaken her restraints, restraints that could built to withstand superhuman strength.

"…But none of them worked." Shirou heard the sound of her gritting teeth. "Even when we showed her the journals and the photo albums, she just apologized. No matter what we did and no matter how many times we tried, even if we remade the memories from scratch, nothing worked. Everything returned to zero whether you were family, her friend, or her lover." She trembled so much that it seemed she could not take another step. "We… could stand it no longer. We could not bear to see that smile of hers any longer."

Kanzaki's anger fed itself more as she recalled the past.

With Index's personality, having to say farewell must have been as painful as dying. Having to experience such a thing over and over again would be like living in hell. Immediately after experiencing the misfortune that was the farewell, she would forget it all and tragically begin a run toward that same determined misfortune once more.

That was why Kanzaki and Stiyl had chosen to lessen the misfortune as much as possible rather than give her the cruel fortune of knowing them. If Index never had the precious memories she had to lose, then the shock of losing her memories would lessen. That was why they abandoned their good friend and played the part of an enemy.

They would blot out her memories to make that final hell as easy as possible for her.

"…"

Somehow or other, Shirou understood. They were expert magicians. They made the impossible possible. The entire time Index repeatedly lost her memories, they had to have searched for a way to keep her from losing her memories.

They never succeeded. Even then, Index had certainly never blamed Stiyl or Kanzaki. She had surely given them that same smile like usual. Being forced to connect with her anew each time had led Kanzaki and Stiyl to blame themselves and saw giving up as the only option. As they had tried so many times to find methods to help her, only to fail so many times. Each failure becoming a crushing reminder that what they were attempting was an impossible task.

"Don't give up on her so quickly! If you truly call yourself her friend then you will keep trying until you exhaust all your options." Shirou shouted.

"Then… what else are we supposed to do?! We have tried everything we know of."

"You are just cowards to think there is nothing out there. New discoveries are made everyday. Maybe someday that knowledge to save her without having to erase her memories. Maybe the knowledge exists already, just hidden or lost. There is always hope." Shirou gritted his teeth. "And while lost hope finding a cure for Index, don't abandon her. If you have no chance to erase her memories then erase them, but take responsibility for doing that. Make new memories, ones better than what she would lose. That's all it would have taken as a friend!"

He grabbed Kanzaki's collar with his left hand. He made a fist with his right hand. Then he punched.

The punch was not the kind to injury. Shirou struck Kanzaki's face. It lacked anything remotely resembling force behind the punch and instead served a different purpose. Even so, Kanzaki stumbled back as if truly punched. She stopped fighting against her bonds.

"You're a disgrace for giving up on Index." He looked down on Kanzaki, who had collapsed to the ground. "If you truly her friend then you wouldn't give up."

His anger began to subside as he thought about Kanzaki's outburst. Shirou was about to laugh when he realized that Kanzaki truly believed what she thought was the truth. She was shredding genuine tears and was in anguish at her inability to save Index without taking her memories.

He finally calmed down somewhat and then he identified a logical flaw in Kanzaki's argument. Shirou looked at her with a pitying look.

"I don't need your pity!"

"I'm not pitying you because you had to do the painful duty to save Index life by erasing her memories. The reason why I am pitying you is because all this time, you have been lied to."

"What?" Kanzaki whispered in disbelief. "What do you mean by that?!"

"The human brain is shockingly incredible. It's memory storage and processing power is unparalleled. I have seen humans without the use of magic reaching the limits of supercomputers. With magic, I have seen them do store and analyse data that would put to shame of supercomputers. Do you know I knew someone that predicted several instances that humanity might've gone instinct, only to provide the necessary information to the proper organizations to prevent it." Shirou shouted as he recalled the amazing feats of the human mind he had witnessed. "The human mind has the potential ability to store memories of centuries if it was not for the effects of aging."

"I don't believe you." Kanzaki spoke, not believing Shirou's words. "I was told that like I said, 85 percent of her brain is taken up by the memories of the 103,000 grimoires. She only has the remaining 15 percent for normal use. If she continues to amass memories like a normal person, her brain will quickly burst."

Shirou paused to think. While he was no expert in the human mind, he knew enough to know what he was saying was the honest to god truth and fact. The problem was finding a way to convince Kanzaki.

"What if I said that I could prove it? That Index can truly live without undergoing any memory erasure. Will you promise me that you will not fight me and watch?" Shirou asked.

"Fine. I don't believe you right now, but if by the unlikely chance that you're telling the truth then there is nothing to lose." Kanzaki said. "I, Kanzaki Kaori, promise to not fight you and see of this proof to support your claim."

"Good…" Shirou said happily. "There reason I believe your organization lied to you was a because that lie was to ensure Index's loyalty to Necessarius. Index would be grateful to Necessarius if as they take care of her, and without her own memories that are constantly being erased, she would be loyal to the organization that took care of her."

"No way…" Kanzaki said like she didn't believe what Shirou was saying. "No… it actually makes sense. Index is a treasure trove of knowledge that could destroy the world if fallen into the wrong hands. Necessarius would be scared about the possibility of Index betraying her so it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that they would go ensure Index's loyalty. Necessarius is after the 'Church of Necessary Evil' created to use whatever means necessary to counter magicians…"

"Well there you have it. You came to your own conclusion." Shirou said happily, seeing that Kanzaki had indeed been deceived and truly meant for the best of Index. He began to remove the restraints on her and said, "if you don't believe me or have some doubts then you can investigate the facts for yourself."

"Kanzaki are you alright?!" Stiyl roared as he smashed open the door to the room. "I'm here to rescue… oh." He paused when he saw that Shirou had finished undoing Kanzaki's restraints. "What the hell happened?"

\- O -

"So, you're telling me that Index has been asleep this entire time?" Stiyl asked.

"Yes, and I think you don't have the moral high ground to tell me what I did was wrong. Mister I have to erase Index's memories to save her life even if it is against her will." Shirou retorted.

"You wanna a piece of me…"

"Stiyl enough!" Kanzaki interrupted. "What Emiya-san did is nothing compared to what we have done in Index's name. We have chased her, hurt her and erased her memories. The only thing he did was to place Index in a coma and hide her away in a safe place. We have no right to criticize him, not when his only deed was a relatively minor one."

"Sheesh, I got it." Stiyl huffed. "But, do you truly have a method to save Index without having to erase her memories like we have done for years?"

"Like I said before, Necessarius has lied to you. There is no way Index doesn't have enough memory space to form no more than a year's worth of memories before having to be erased. The human mind can store centuries of memories without any problems. Heck, I know a human that older than a millennium that is not having any memory issues and he has photographic memory." Shirou explained. "Necessarius is only erasing her memories so that she doesn't have the memories to form to opinions and decide to betray them. How can Index make such a decision when she only remembers fond memories of Necessarius taking care of her?"

"You're line of thinking does seem a very logical." Stiyl agreed. "You do know that we have tried countless methods right? To help Index and only resorted with annual memory erasure for that reason."

"That's because you assumed the wrong thing. You guys had the wrong prognosis and tried to fix a condition that she didn't have. I have a sure proof method that will help her."

"What is that method?" Kanzaki inquired.

"I know that you were good friends with Index and only truly care about her, but I don't know you enough to trust you with my secrets. So let's just say this is one of my many trump cards that I had I always keep up my sleeve." Shirou said as he led Stiyl and Kanzaki to a room. "Kanzika. Since you're the only female here, can you search Index's body for anything unusual. Anything that could be magic. I need to know what sort of magic Necessarius used upon Index to formulate how to cure her of problem."

"I doubt that I will find anything. Necessarius would not leave a mark of magic somewhere so obvious as the skin of the body."

"I only ask that you try. If you find nothing on her body then it will actually make it easier for me to deal with."

"Go outside and wait then. I will call you when I am done searching Index." Kanzaki said.

Shirou and Stiyl complied and waited outside the room in silence.

"Come in," Kanzaki announced several minutes later. When the two boy entered, Kanzaki addressed them. "You were right. There was a rune on Index's body. Somewhere on her body. It was placed in somewhere that most people would not search. On the roof of her mouth."

"So what kind of rune are we talking about?" Stiyl asked.

"Collar…" Kanzaki said in a grim tone.

"No way! They used Collar? To ensure Index's loyalty?!" Stiyl shouted in outrage.

"Collar? What kind of magic spell is that? I have never heard about it." Shirou asked.

"Collar is magic ritual that can be used in place of a slave collar, a magical device used to ensure a slave's obedience through pain and with the threat of death." Kanzaki explained. "Stiyl. Emiya-san was right. I looked at the magic formula. It had the command to slowly weaken Index. If her memories were not erased annually then Collar would've killed her. A magic spell that gave the illusion that Index was dying from not having her memory erased by what her 'condition'."

"Dammit!" Stiyl shouted in outrage as he slammed his fist into the wall. "Damn Laura Stuart! Damn Necessarius! Damn the Church of England!"

"Please move aside, Kanzaki-san. I want to see this 'Collar' that you speak of." Shirou asked, and Kanzaki moved aside to allow Shirou to do his inspection. "This is a nasty piece of work. It is remarkable robust and unlikely to fail. When triggered, it would make it seem like the target would die from natural causes." He said as he inspected the rune. "This is something that I can easily deal with."

"Are you that confident in your skills? When I inspected the magic formula, it was designed to resist tampering. Any failure to correctly removing the rune will result in the death of Index." Kanzaki said with concern.

It was then that Index suddenly began to move.

"Index shouldn't be moving. I placed her in a coma." Shirou said, baffled.

Her eyes silently opened, and they glowed red. The color was different from her irises. Glowing blood red magic circles floated in her eyes. Index's eyes glowed a frightening red, and something exploded.

"That was unexpected," Shirou remarked as he dodged the burst of laser that scorched the wall.

"It's Index in her John Pen's mode." Kanzaki said as she dodged the attack easily.

"John Pen's mode?"

"It's a defensive persona that protects Index when someone attempts to access Index' archieve of 103,000 grimoires without proper codes." Stiyl explained.

"Warning: detected unauthorized personel attempting to alter or destroy the Collar." Index spoke in machine-like and toneless voice. "Any further attempt will be met with lethal force."

" _Trace On_." Shirou chanted.

Shirou disappeared and reappeared behind Index. The defensive persona didn't even have time to comprehend what was happening until she was stabbed in the back by ritual knife known as Rule Breaker.

"Warning: Chapter 3, Verse 2. All barriers for Index Librorum Prohibitorum's collar from first to third have been breached. Preparing to regenerate… failed. The collar cannot self-regenerate. Switching priorities to the elimination of the intruder in order to protect the 103,000 archived grimoires."

"What the hell did you just use? I felt like a gigantic burst of mana that came from Index. That had happened after you stabbed her with that dagger." Stiyl inquired.

"It's really strange. This artefact I have here is called Rule Breaker. Something is said to dispel all magic upon contact. The only magic that it failed to dispel is magic that is equivalent or higher than Rule Breaker itself. Hence, Collar is gone as Index confirmed herself." Shirou explained, but I am amazed whatever magic was used on Index didn't dispel after being hit by Rule Breaker."

"You said yourself, that Rule Breaker fails to dispel magic that is either equal or superior to itself. John Pen's mod is a culmination of centuries of magical research with magic from all around to world by Necessarius in an attempt to create the pinnacle of magical defense. It is something that countless magicians had researched, developed and refined. Something that will not erase get dispelled by even as such a powerful anti-magic artefact." Stiyl spoke.

"Using the 103,000 archived grimoires to determine the magic spell used to damage the barrier… failed. The specified magic cannot be determined. Putting together an anti-intruder, local weapon to expose the composition of the spell." Index tilted her head like a corpse puppet. "The magic expected to be most effective on the specific intruder has been formulated. Proceeding to activate the special magic, St. George's Sanctuary, to destroy the intruder."

With a tremendous noise, the two magic circles in Index's eyes grew simultaneously. Two magic circles over two meters across were now positioned in front of Index's face. Each one was fixed in place with its center over one of her eyes and the magic circles would move through the air when she slightly moved her head.

Index sang something that was beyond human comprehension.

For an instant, the two magic circles centered on her eyes glowed before exploding. More specifically, it seemed like an explosion of high voltage electricity occurred in a point in space between Index's eyes, and lightning scattered in every direction.

However, rather than bluish-white electricity, the lightning was pitch black.

Space itself had seemingly cracked open. Centered at the point where the two magic circles crossed, pitch black spatial cracks spread out in every directions to the edges of the room. It was like a window that was shot by a bullet. It almost seemed like a type of barrier preventing anyone from approaching Index. Something seemingly pulsating swelled up from within the cracks. A beast-like scent wafted in from the slight opening created by the pitch black cracks.

The cracks spread and spread and spread and spread. The cracks spread all at once and "opened". The giant cracks opened wide enough to reach the edges of the room and the "thing" inside peered out.

A pillar of light shot out from within the cracks. It looked something like a laser beam about a meter across. The light was so pure a white it looked like it had been melted by the sun.

" _Rhio Aias_."

"What?!" Stiyl and Kanzaki said in shock.

Rhio Aias was a famous artefact amongst magicians. It was the legendary shield used by Aias the Great. The seven-layered oxhide shield that could block the spear throw of Hector, a man's whose throw that had never been blocked before during the Trojan War. An artefact that could be said to be one of the most powerful defensive artefacts known. Something that shouldn't be in the hands of someone like Shirou Emiya.

"How do you have Rhio Aias?" Stiyl and Kanzaki asked.

"Does that really matter right now?!" Shirou shouted as he hand back the magic spell. He grunted from the feedback of one layer of Rhio Aias breaking. " _I am the bone of my sword._ "

The first aria to his Reality Marble enhanced his Projection. He felt the six remaining layers of Rhio Aias become strengthened greatly.

The power behind the pillar of light nightmarishly doubled in an attempt to destroy the strengthened Rhio Aias that it failed to penetrate.

"St. George's Sanctuary is showing no effect against the intruder. Switching to another spell and continuing destruction of the intruder in order to protect the collar."

"Fortis-931." Stiyl said.

Tens of thousands of cards flew from within his pitch black clothes. Cards carved with flame runes spiraled around like a typhoon and in no time at all had covered the walls, ceiling, and floor without gap.

Shirou grunted as the mental feedback became stronger. His body hurt as Rhio Aias was an incredible powerful shield that was said to have the defensive properties of a fortress, but damage was reflected to its user. In his case, his body was bruised all over from the first layer that had been destroyed and the second layer that was being damaged.

"Salvare-000." Kanzaki said.

Kanzaki's attack sent wires towards Index at a speed that seemed to slice through sound itself. But, she did not aim for Index. The wires tore through the fragile tatami mat at Index's feet. Having lost her footing, Index fell backwards. The magic circles linked to her eyes moved and the pillar of light that was supposed to be aimed at Shirou missed its target considerably.

As if it were a giant sword being swung around, the pillar of light sliced through the wall and ceiling of the apartment. It even sliced through the pitch black clouds floating in the night sky. In fact, it could have even sliced through a satellite outside the atmosphere.

Not even a splinter remained where the walls and ceiling had been sliced.

Instead, the portions that had been destroyed had become feathers of light that were as pure a white as the pillar of light. They floated down. Shirou had no idea what effects they might have had, but a few dozen of those feathers of light came floating down like winter snow on that summer night.

"Those are the same as Dragon Breath, the strike of the legendary dragon of St. George! Whatever power they may have, I highly doubt the human body will react well to them!"

Having heard Kanzaki's warning, Shirou ran towards Index as she lay collapsed on the ground.

But before he could, Index turned her head. Like a giant sword being swung, the pillar of light was swung back down, slicing back through the night sky.

"Innocentius!"

As Shirou prepared himself, a spiral of flame appeared in front of him. The giant flame took on the form of a person and then spread out its arms to act as a shield against the pillar of light. It was truly like a cross protecting man from sin.

"Do you think Rule Breaker will work again?!" Stiyl shouted.

"Of course!" Shirou shouted as he traced another Rule Breaker and charged at Index. " _I am the bone of my sword._ "

He ran around the colliding flame and light towards Index.

"Warning: Chapter 6, Verse 13. New enemy confirmed. Changing combat considerations. Beginning scan of the battlefield… done. Focusing on the destruction of the most difficult enemy, Shirou Emiya."

Index swung her head around, pillar of light and all.

However, Innocentius moved to protect Shirou at the same time. The light and flames continued to eat into each other in an extended conflict of destruction and regeneration.

Shirou ran straight for the now defenseless Index.

Four more meters.

Three more meters.

Two more meters!

One more meter!

"Nooo! Above you!" Kanzaki yelled with a voice that seemed to tear through everything.

Shirou had just reached the point where he could reach the magic circles in front of Index's face if he stretched out his hand. Without stopping his feet, he looked up at the ceiling.

The feathers of light...

The few dozen shining feathers that had been created when Index's pillar of light had destroyed the wall and ceiling were slowly floating down like snowflakes. They had just floated down far enough to be about to reach Shirou's head.

"Warning: Chapter 22, Verse 1. Analysis of the flame magic spell has succeeded. It is confirmed to be a distorted Christian motif described with runes. Adding in anti-Christian spells… Spell 1, Spell 2, Spell 3. Twelve seconds until the complete activation of the spell named Eli Eli Lema Sabachthani."

The pillar of light's color turned from pure white to crimson.

Innocentius's regeneration speed visibly slowed and the pillar of light pushed forward.

Shirou summoned dozens of blades to intercept every one of the dozens of feathers of light. Each blade was a nameless Noble Phantasm. Something that should easily withstand the might of the feathers of light.

"Rule Breaker!" Shirou swung the dagger at Index.

"…Warning: Final… Chapter, Verse Zero…. The collar has received fatal… damage… Regeneration… impossible… gone." The voice coming from Index's mouth ended altogether.

The pillar of light and magic circles disappeared, and it was almost as if the cracks that had been running all across the room had been erased with an eraser. Then in an explosion of light and magical energy, the entire room was engulfed.

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

 **Follow and Favorite. I am encouraged to write by the number of Follows and Favourites so please tag this story!**

 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


	4. Unknown Future

**Chapter Four "Unknown Future"**

"My, my, my. I certainly didn't expect this." A boy said as he entered the room. "Stiyl and Kanzaki. I would've expected you to have some defensive magic around yourself or at least imbued in your clothes."

"Shut up," Stiyl said in an annoyed tone.

"Calm down, Stiyl, just because you cannot smoke here in the hospital is no reason to be an aweful mood."

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to investigate when I heard that an entire apartment complex was blown apart by an explosion. Where hundreds of casualties were reported and dozens of fatalities that are climbing." The boy said. "And, I wanted to know if Arthur if was safe. After all, he is a close friend of mine that happens to live there."

"Arthur?" Kanzaki asked.

"The guy that is pretending to be in coma. Isn't that right, Shi-yan."

"You mean, Emiya-san, right?" Stiyl asked.

"Indeed."

"He took the brunt of the explosion to save us. We got off with a lot of broken bones and minor organ damage, but he on the other hand was a severe case. He stopped breathing and his heart stopped several times. They even have him up on life support because his vital organs failed several times. Are you suggesting that he faked all that? That he is pretending to be in coma when there is no reason too?" Kanzaki said in a serious face, not amused by the look that the boy sported.

"He tends to have a habit on wanting to make everyone underestimate him. It's like he enjoys taking people by surprise when he shows his true ability. And I told you because he is Arthur."

"Motoharu Tsuchimikado." Shirou, who was no longer practicing to be in a coma, sat up and identified the boy.

"Wait how are you conscious? You were in a critical condition." Stiyl asked in surprise.

"I faked it." Shirou said simply.

"Wait what?! You faked it? How?" Stiyl continued to inquire. "You were not in any condition to be even able to use magic to heal yourself. Kanzaki and I would've at least attempted to heal you if we were not mana exhausted."

"I have my methods." Shirou said cryptically.

"Well, it's always amazing to see how incredible powerful Avalon is. It is indeed an incredibly powerful artefact that truly lives up to its legend," said Motoharu.

"Avalon? Avalon as in a place where King Arthur is supposed to be resting until the time he is needed in Britiain's time of need?" Kanzaki asked.

"No, I'm referring to the sheath of Excalibur, Avalon. The legendary sheath that Merlin warned Arthur was more important than Excalibur as the wielder of the scabbard of Excalibur would not bleed a drop of blood as long as he had it. It has the ability to instantly heal most wounds and regenerate from the worst of wounds in a matter of minutes." Motoharu said. "I'm still wondering how you managed to get your hands on it. A sacred treasure of England that was thought to be lost like Excalibur."

"Wait what?! Avalon, the scabbard of Excalibur? How the hell did you get your hands on that? First Rhio Aias, then this?" Stiyl said in amazement.

"Hoh, Arthur managed to get his hands on even Rhio Aias." Motoharu said, impressed.

"Stop calling me by that nickname, Motoharu. Call me by my name." Shirou said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Fine, fine." Motoharu said in care-free tone. "So was it a success? Erasing Index's memory?"

"Better," said Kanzaki. "We discovered that Necessarius has been lying to us the entire time. They used Collar to create the symptoms to give an illusion that if we don't perform Index's annual memory erasure then she would die from having more than one year's memory. Instead, Collar that weakened her and would kill Index if we failed to erase her memories."

"Loyalty by creating the image Necessarius is the kind guardian. And erasing Index's memories before she had find flaws with that illusion and possibly thinking about leaving or betraying Necessarius. A good plan, and a devious one." Motoharu said as he caught on. "It's past the year deadline and since the fact that Index is still alive and you are happy, Kanzaki, means that you didn't have to erase her memories?"

"Something even better happened, Motoharu."

Everyone in the room stared at the newcomer that had entered the room.

"Index?!"

"Hello, Stiyl and Kanzaki. It's good to see you are alright. Thanks to Emiya-san's use of the Witch of Betrayal's Rule Breaker, all magic that has ever been casted on me as been dispelled. Including John's Pen mode." Index said with a happy smile. Then Index ran towards Kanzaki hugged her in a cherishing manner and did the same with Stiyl. "Thank you so much. For the years you tried to find a method to not have to erase my memories and save my life. You were always there even when I forgot about you and worked tireless in anguish to see me without any recollection of you."

"It's good to have you back." Kanzaki said as she sobbed and tears began to form.

"Same, Index." Sityl said he fought back tears and sported a happy smile. "Wait you remember? Like everything?"

"I remember everything." Index said.

"Everything, how?" Stiyl asked. "We erased your memories from your mind. There should be no memories left of us even if Collar and John's Pen mode was dispelled."

"The brain is just an anchor between the body and soul. Memories are stored within the soul alongside someone's personality. The brain just has a physical expression of memories imprinted on the body. You just erased what was within the brain and not the soul. Only Collar and John's Pen mode was stopping Index from accessing the memories within her soul." Shirou explained.

"Who cares about the details. All that matters is that Index is perfect fine. No memory issue anymore and she remembers everything now." Motoharu said happily.

"What are you going to do from now? I doubt the three of you - Index, Stiyl and Kanzaki – would want to return to the Church of England, not when what you did could be thought as treason. Index no longer has anymore reason to loyal to the organization that erased her memories. Stiyl and Kanzaki who year after year hunted down and hurted Index in their belief that they had to erase Index's memories to save her life. The Church of England will likely hunt you down to prevent Index's 103,000 grimores from falling into the wrong hands." Shirou asked.

No one answered, as no one knew what to do.

\- O -

"Dammit! Why?! Why must this be happening?!" Mikoto Misaka screamed as she sent arcs of lightning at her surroundings.

The girl had chestnut hair. Her eyes are the same color as her hair. She wore white loose/slouch socks and brown loafers with a light brown vest sweater over a white blouse and a grey skirt. Someone might have described her to be cute had it not been for the contorted visage that came with her burning fury.

"How could've I been so naïve?! Why did I give them permission to map my DNA?"

She wanted to take it all back. Wanted to travel back in time to tell her past, child self that the doctors were not going to use her DNA for what they had promised would be used to help children who are living with muscular dystrophy; using her powers to replicate bio-signs, they had her believe they could control the bioelectrical signal of the body and reroute it to a nerve signal network, meaning the children would be able to gain control of said muscles, thus allowing movement. Instead they had lied to her and used her DNA to make clones for military purposes. Something that went the exact reason why she had given her DNA for analysis.

"Project Radio Noise was supposed to be cancelled. So, why? Why did I see someone that looked exactly look me? Talk like me? Have the exact same AIM Field as me?"

Lightning formed and discharged from all around Mikoto. This time the voltage of the lightning that she was discharging climbed exponentially. The electromagnetic radiation given up by just the lightning was enough to make even the most shielded electronics to malfunction and when the lightning hit machinery, there was no chance that it would not have it circuitry survive intact and working. So intense was the miniature lightning storm formed around her that everything that run on electricity around Mikoto within a hundred meter radius failed.

"Dammit, I swear whoever is involved will pay! I shall shut down Project Radio Noise or whatever project that my clones are being used for!"

\- O -

Laura Stuart, the Archbishop of the Church of England and Necessarius, chewed on her nails. Things had not gone as planned for days. Plans that couldn't go awry. Things that she had never had predicted had transpired. Things that didn't just affect her and the organisations that she led, but also effected the United Kingdom on a national scale. A matter of England's national security and interests.

It had first started when Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori had not reported in several days. While they were deep in the territory of the enemy, the Science Side, there was no reason for them to not be reporting. Crowley and his underlings would never seek to interfere with the matters of the Church of England. That would mean interrupting the status quo, the Science Side and Magic Side not interfering with the internal affairs of the other without repercussions.

Then it got worse when it Stiyl and Kanzaki were unable to report on the condition of their mission: Index. Index had not been secured. One of Necessarius' greatest assets was not in safe hands. A walking archive of magical knowledge, 103,000 grimoires to be exact. A single source of information that could be easily consulted for just about every type of magic known in the world. Index was Necessarius' greatest weapon in form of knowledge she had memorized, but she was a double-edged sword as what made her Necessarius' greatest strength also their weakness.

Laura had ignored the two problems. Stiyl and Kanzaki had in the past would taken longer than necessary to accomplish the task: erase Index's memories. That could be easily chalked up to their personal connection to Index. They could lose the nerve to complete the task before they saw their friend die before their very eyes hardening their hearts to save Index from her condition of possible death if her memories were not erased on an annual basis.

Things went down downhill when Buckingham Palace had reported that it's copy of John's Pen external controller was destroyed by unknown means. Then came the news that the second copy in St. George's Cathedral had also been destroyed in a similar fashion. The fact that two copies, and the only ones, of John's Pen was destroyed meant only one thing. Someone had tampered or destroyed the magic that Laura had cast upon Index. Magic that was to ensure Index's loyalty to Necessarius by having a kill-switch in the case that Index fell into the wrong hands or betrayed Necessarius.

"Since then, the situation has gotten more grim and gloomy by the day." Laura said in a frustrated voice.

Laura had began to draw conclusions that she did not yet have evidence to support, but her instincts said that was so. Two possible scenarios had arisen. One, Index had fallen into enemy hands and her protectors, Kanzaki and Stiyl, had been defeated. Two, that Kanzaki and Stiyl had found out the truth of Index's kill switch and the reason why she needed to have her memories erase. They had somehow figured a nullified John's Pen and Collar, and betrayed Necessarius.

Neither scenario was a good thing.

And then there was Aleister Crowley, the filth traitor, the greatest magician, who had turned his back on magic and created the Science Side and Academy City, had the nerve to make demands to her. He had demanded an explanation why Tree Diagram, the world's most advanced supercomputer that orbited space, had been destroyed by Dragon's Breath. Something that only Index could've accomplished as Tree Diagram had been destroyed while in orbit directly above Academy City at the time of destruction, the same time period that Index was reported to be before Kanzaki and Stiyl had gone dark.

Laura sighed, and took a deep breath.

Aleister Crowley despite turning his back on the Magic Side and creating the Science Side with the founding of Academy City, was not an individual to be trifled with. Not only was he the de-facto leader of the Science Side, but he was also still had deep connection with the Magic Side despite the fact that he had turned his back on magic in favor of science. His name was synonymous with the word traitor to magicians, but he wasn't called the greatest magicians for nothing. He was the strongest and most knowledgeable magician, and magicians still hunted down his abandoned magical legacy in the hopes of gaining even a fraction of his might or knowledge.

She, Laura Stuart, Archbishop of the Church of England, and leader of Necessarius, could never hope to match the formidable influence that Aleister Crowley possessed. The only thing she could do was comply, lest she brought down his power down upon the two organizations that she led.

"Disclose everything that Aleister Crowley wants. And also find what is going with Index, Stiyl and Kanzaki. Get Motoharu Tsuchimikado hold onto. I want his report." Laura shouted.

"Yes, Milady."

\- O -

The area was too large to be described as in-doors and there was supposedly no lighting. However, the room was filled with starry lights because of the numerous flashing screens and buttons. Equips of all sizes, thousands of cables and tubes were gathered at the center of the room like blood vessels on the floor.

An enormous cylinder was centered in the room. It was four meters in diameter and over ten meters in height. The cylindrical container of reinforced glass was filled with a red liquid. The color was said to represent a weakly alkaline recovery fluid.

A human wearing a green surgical cloak floated upside down. No word beside "human" could have described him. The silver-haired "human" appeared like a man but somehow feminine, like an adult but somehow childlike, like a saint but somehow criminal.

"This is problematic." The "human" in the cylinder spoke.

The man was Aleister Crowley, said to be the greatest magician that had ever lived to date. The archenemy of Magic Side for he was the one that turned his back to them and took their knowledge to create Academy City. The man that united the once fabled espers and psychic powers of modern myth and bring them to mainstream public by using science to prove their existence. The man that created the Academy City's Power Curriculum Program that allowed even ordinary humans to become espers and create a type of supernatural phenomena that had until his intervention had been limited only to magicians.

"Tree Diagram, my greatest asset, has been destroyed."

Tree Diagram, the greatest supercomputer to date, was a machine that was unparalleled. A unique supercomputer that had been the product of decades of scientific research and development. To prevent others from replicating it as all research data into its development had been erased. Everyone that was involved the creation of Tree Diagram had their memories erased to ensure no one else could create another Tree Diagram.

"It is going to take a while, but the data in the development and creation of Tree Diagram is not lost. I after all, have it within my head. The problem is going to be that gather the individuals that can be trusted and can recreate Tree Diagram from the data in my memories."

The loss of Tree Diagram was a large setback, but nothing that he couldn't recover from. As long as he, Aleister Crowley, and Academy City still lived than recovering was just a matter of resources and time. Something that he had more than plenty of.

"The situation has become complicated as of now."

Many of Crowley's plans were going to be on hold until Tree Diagram was recreated. Tree Diagram was the ultimate machine for creating stimulation with data to crunch out results. A great deal of his plans relied on the data to be crunched for anything from research projects to stimulations on how to further the edge of the Science Side over the Magic Side.

"One good thing has happened after Tree Diagram's destruction was an appearance of an individual. An individual that is both a magician and an esper. And unlike the failed Motoharu Tsuchimikado, this new individual has shown no negative side effects from practicing both systems."

A relatively unknown high school student that had not caught his attention before had appeared. Someone that by records was a Level 0 Esper, known as Shirou Emiya. Someone that showed both ability in magic and psychic abilities. He had made his presence known by involving himself with the Magic Side by supporting Index and fighting Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori. To Crowley's surprise, he had defeated both magicians and come out on top.

"Is Shirou Emiya what you talked about were talking about, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg? Is he a mage? The magecraft, the end goal of my dreams, that you showed me?"

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

 **Follow and Favorite. I am encouraged to write by the number of Follows and Favourites so please tag this story!**

 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


	5. Deep Blood

**Chapter Five "Deep Blood"**

"Ha," Shirou sighed as he looked down at his phone screen. "That took a dent into one of my bank accounts."

"Look, Stiyl. Look, Kanzaki. This place is so big." Index said in amazement as she ran around.

"This is a good view of Academy City." Kanzaki commented.

"How do you even have the money to buy a penthouse when you were living in a cheap one-bedroom apartment by yourself before Index came into your life." Stiyl asked as he chewed on his lit cigarette.

"I tried to keep a low profile. To not attract attention. That all went out the window when I got involved with your guys. We have Index, one of the most sought after people in the world with 103,000 grimores she had memorized. And there is Kanzaki Kaori, one of the twenty Saints of the world." Shirou responded.

"You still haven't answered why such a high-profile place. You brought an entire penthouse on top of a fifty storey building." Stiyl continued to ask.

"To deter the enemy, if we hide in plain sight then they would have to involve the hundreds of people that live in the building if they tried anything. And a place of high elevation will allow me to use the full bright of my abilities and defensive magic that I plan to place around my new home."

"That has to do something with your ability as a magic archer right?"

"Ya."

"Emiya-san, I wanted to ask. How did you know that I am a Saint?" Kanzaki asked after she finished admiring the view that came with the penthouse.

"Call me, Shirou. You are okay with me calling you, Kanzaki." Shirou corrected. "Ever since Index's memories was restored, I have been attempting to establish an information network of my own. One that answers to no one but me, alone. And that was how I got that piece of information."

"So that was why you were absent for a month." Kanzaki nodded as if she had figured out a great mystery.

"Well, at least that month was easier to bear than having three people in a one-bedroom apartment then four people." Stiyl said in relief as he recalled that month.

"Stiyl!" Index shouted as she jumped on the smoker. "The last month would've been more fun if Shirou was with us."

"Ggggggaaaaaarrrrrrr!" Stiyl screamed as he attempted to nurse/get Index, who was chewing on his head, off.

"I completely forgot about that part about Index…" Kanzaki said as she shivered as she recalled a scary habit of Index that she had forgotten and how Index would've chewed on her own head when she was Index's partner.

"Well at least that didn't happen to me." Shirou said with a smirk.

"Shirou, the only reason I don't do this is because your head is so hard. It hurts to chew on your head." Index said, angrily like her failure to chew on his head was important thing she had failed at.

"My bones are stronger several times stronger than steel, and that is before I use magic to further enhance them." Shirou said with a growing smirk.

"My teeth…" Index winced as she had a phantom pain from remembering how she had attempted to chew on Shirou only to have the response that her teeth was going to break on his harder-than-steel bone.

"Thank god that is over." Stiyl said in relief as he lit another cigarette with magic after Index had stopped chewing on his head. "So, how is the status of your information network? I want to know how far in advance will we likely be forewarned of future attacks."

"It was a hassle starting it up. I had to find small and large information dealers, many of whom were business rivals, to team up. I had use coercion more than using momentary incentives." Shirou said as crackled his neck. "I find some good handlers to further grow my information network, so I will have to wait and see how it goes."

"Are you going to establish your powerbase here in Academy City, the homebase of the Science side?"

"Yea."

"How did you do that?" Kanzaki asked.

"I didn't talk to Aleister Crowley. That would be foolish as I would be walking right into the lion's den without the necessary precautions. I talked through intermediaries," explained Shirou. "The deal for me to establish a foothold here in Academy City was rather simple terms. The same status quo of the Science and Magic Sides. Don't interfere with the internal affairs of the other side. We don't mess with matters of the Science Side and we deal with the Magic Side that occurs within Academy City."

"I'm sensing a but…" Stiyl said.

"… With the exception of myself."

"How can you be an exception?" Kanzaki inquired.

"If we go on technical terms, the magic I use is called 'Magecraft' and I am a 'Mage.' Something that is more in line with Espers than magicians." Shirou said, who got curious and confused looks instead. "My magic is very different from the ones your practice. It doesn't revolve around culturally narrative such as religions, belief systems, mythologies, or even folklore and fairy tales. It is something that is more… Scientific."

"…"

Shirou scratched his head from the curious and confused looks that he was getting. He didn't know how to explain it without seeming to speak nonsense. There was no way he could explain that he had reincarnated from parallel reality. There was no proof to back him up as the knowledge of Sorcery such as Kaleidoscope or Heaven's Feel didn't seem to exist in this world. The only proof he had was his magic that could easily be chalked up as his own unique magic if by a miraculous chance there was no one that practiced magecraft.

And there was another reason.

He couldn't outright say that their magic was backwards. Like seriously backwards that Shirou didn't know if he should call it outright primitive. The magic of this world was a mess. There was no international and unifying force that his former world had such as the Clocktower or the Church. There were hundreds of minor and major magic organizations. As many separate divisions that could be the Church as denominations of Christianity. Hence, there was no unified consensus or cooperation in researching and refining magic that would create the unified magic that was modern Magecraft.

The Science Side's Esper was the closest thing to modern Magecraft and even then, all their terms and understanding of Magecraft had different names and explanation or outright wrong in some places. They didn't call the source of power of Espers as being the same with magicians, and that was mana. AIM Field? That was a blurring concept of the Science Side that confused with magical energy that bled out of magicians and Espers. It wasn't even funny how in-detail Shirou could go on about the Science Side being wrong as much as the Magic Side.

"Let's forget about the details… Hey?" Shirou said as he smiled. "Anyway. We have a matter of the Magic Side we have to deal with."

RUMBLE.

Everyone in the room turned to the source of the sound. Only to find it was Index, that everyone had forgotten in their conversation.

"Can we talk about that later? I really am hungry."

\- O -

Shirou Emiya froze in place while carrying a tray of food in his hand. On the second floor of the fast food restaurant, a no-smoking zone was packed, he recognized the smell of something that he never thought he would smell again.

"No way…" Shirou said in shock.

"What the problem, Shirou?" Index asked.

"Indeed what will cause you to free up." Kazanki asked.

"Is there a threat?" Stiyl asked, picking up the air that Shirou was putting out.

"Deep Blood. I smell the scent of Deep Blood here, and it very close. Like in this restaurant. If Deep Blood is here then there is no telling where True Ancestors are nearby or even here."

"True Ancestors?" Index asked, but before anyone could answer, she quickly browsed through the incredible magical knowledge she had memorized. "Another name for vampires."

That got both Stiyl and Kanzaki stiffened up and then prepared for a battle to erupt any given moment. Shirou noted to investigate whether or not Dead Apostle, and their lesser kin existed in this world, while remembering to refer what he knew as True Ancestors as vampires for people of this world to understand him.

Sniffing the air, Shirou found the direction of the scent. He looked at his friends to see if they were prepared. Stiyl had his cards in his hands. Kanzaki had one hand on the handle of her katana and the other one the scabbard, which were hidden in a bag. Without Collar and John's Pen mode from restricting her mana, she had full access to magic to defend herself. They were ready.

He gestured for them to remain silent and follow him. They nodded and followed his lead.

"Spent all my money and ruined myself."

Shirou and his friends stared at the absurdity they found. Here they were waiting to confront Deep Blood, the legendary blood – something that was irresistible to True Ancestors and their lesser kin such as Dead Apostles and lower forms, and killed them upon drinking – with extreme caution like they would be attacked at any given moment. Instead, they found a miko splayed across a table and radiating a depressed aura.

"Shirou, are you sure Deep Blood is her?" Stiyl asked, staring at Shirou.

"Let me see," said Shirou as he brought out his phone and browsed for the image he was looking for. "Definitely her. This is Asia Himegami. No doubt about her."

"How do you think we should proceed?" Kanzaki asked.

"Well this was who I wanted to talk about before we left for lunch. Asia Himegami. Deep Blood. She along with an alchemist and entire school, Misawa Cram School are the Magic Side interefering with the Science Side inside Academy City. Aleister Crowley asked for them to dealt as we pleased as long as they cannot interfering on the affairs of Academy City." Shirou explained. "And let's take the observation route. Stiyl and Index you got lookout for any vampires that might appear. You have your rune magic and the 103,000 grimoires' magic that Index use. Kanzaki you're with me."

His friends nodded. Index and Stiyl walked down the stairs and watched the only stairway to the second floor of the Mcdonalds restaurant.

"Erm, excuse me?" Shirou asked to the miko. The miko's shoulders jerked. "Ah... Erm… What did you mean by spent all your money and ruined yourself?"

"As I had a lot of free coupons and a hamburger costs 580 yen—"

"Uh huh." Shirou nodded.

"—I went ahead and ordered 30 of them."

"You ordered too many, stupid girl." Shirou retorted on reflex at the absurdity that was said.

He had noticed the miko was unmoving. Because of her silence, one could tell that she gave off an aura of emotional hurt. It was an uncomfortable atmosphere. He had not expected for her to respond so seriously. Truly, the atmosphere was uncomfortable.

"Meal of frustration." The stationary miko that was approximately half-dead finally spoke.

"Ha?"

"Train fare back home: 400 yen."

Facing such suspicious words from the miko, Kamijou could only swallow his saliva. He had no memories of riding a train but he knew that riding a train or bus in Academy City was extremely pricey.

"What does 400 yen for a train ride have to do with a frustration meal?"

"My total fortune: 300 yen."

"…And you're telling me because?"

"Overspending… lack of planning..."

"..."

"…So I'm having a frustration meal."

Shirou had barely managed to swallow the words "you idiot" that were rising from his throat.

After careful consideration, he spoke. "But, why don't you use that 300 yen for the train ride? If you can't pay for one, you can just walk the 100 yen difference. And if you can't do that, why don't you just borrow 100 yen from someone?"

"…That idea's good."

"Why are you staring at me like that? What's with the expectant look?"

The miko, who had lifted her face up, was unexpectedly beautiful. She was differed slightly from the foreign Index; she had skin as white as the Japanese that contrasted with her black hair and eyes. Though her eyes lacked emotion, they also lacked aggression. Even if she did not want someone around, she emanated a comforting feeling. It was an encompassing nature.

"..." Kanzaki scowled and glared at Shirou.

"100 yen please." The miko lifted her head and stared with a complicatedly pained expression. She continued. "Will you lend to me?"

"…" Shirou sighed and took out a ten thousand yen banknote. "Here-"

 _Why are they doing here?_ Shirou wondered.

The group of ten looked over in that direction, seemingly desiring to surround the table. It was incredible that no one had noticed. Also, though shop was crowded, no one had noticed the anomaly. Essentially, these individuals could erase their presences like professional assassins.

"…"

All of them, in their 20s and 30s, were dressed in the same Western suit. If they were squeezed together in a train station, they could cause those around them to not remember their faces and names. However, their expressions lacked emotions completely. And, because of that, they contrasted from their surroundings.

Shirou didn't detect any unusual leakage of mana from their bodies that could denote them as magicians or people that could use magic in any capability. So that meant they were professional trained assassins, but still normal humans. Either the miko was being targeted by someone that had no knowledge of magic or didn't want to use magic using people to take the miko.

Her expression was still deadpan even with ten men surrounding them.

"Thank you." The miko spoke as she silently stood, taking the 10,000 yen note that Shirou has been about to give her. Her attitude was as casual as meeting someone for a planned arrangement, showing her unwariness of them.

If others were going to make a move on Deep Blood, he had to stop them.

"Stiyl! Index! Erect a barrier!" Shirou shouted.

"You got it!"

The entire Mcdonalds restaurant was suddenly engulfed in multipurpose Bounded Field. One that would evict and keep non-magic users away from the building, as shown by the Mcdonald workers and customers all dropping what they were doing and leaving the room or that no more attempted to enter the building. The ten assassins too promptly were affected by the Bounded Field and left. Leaving the miko alone.

"Now tell me, Asia Himegami. What is Deep Blood doing in Acamdey City? And what the people you are working with are doing?" Shirou said as he began his interrogation.

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

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 **Leona-do**


	6. Intrusion

**Chapter Six "Intrusion"**

Index suddenly stopped, seemingly having seen something.

"Did something catch your attention, Index?" Shirou inquired.

Shirou stared where Index's gaze was directed. At the base of a windmill turbine sat a corrugated paper box with a cat purring inside.

"Shirou! Ca—"

"No way!" Shirou interrupted Index before she could finish. "No. We can't."

"Why why why why why? Why can't we raise Sphinx?"

" Don't go ahead and name the cat so quickly! And what? Sphinx? THAT'S A JAPANESE CALICO CAT, WHY A FOREIGN NAME?"

"I DON'T CARE! WANNA WANNA WANNA WANNA WANNA WANNA WANNA WANNA!"

"WHAT'S WITH THIS SHOUTING ATTACK!? IT'S USELESS AGAINST ME! AND LOOK, YOUR CAT RAN INTO THE ALLEY!"

"IT'S ALL SHIROU'S FAULT!"

"AND YOU'RE BLAMING ME!?"

"Humph! I heard that the Shamisen was made from cat skins? Why must the people of this country always be so cruel to cats?"

"…Idiot, don't criticize other countries' cultures! You English folks also love to gather together and chase down foxes, right!?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! FOX HUNTING IS REPRESENTATIVE OF ENGLISH TRADITION AND PRIDE—!"

Shirou thought of a devious idea. If Index wanted a cat then she was going to get it, but on his terms. The only reason he didn't want to get a pet was because not the expenses of keeping a pet, he had more than enough money that he was a millionaire. What he didn't want to deal with was the problems that arose with having a pet. Having to train it. He knew a magical solution.

He kneeled before the cat and placed his hands on its forehead.

" _I am the bone of my sword  
Steel is my body and fire is my blood_."

"Ha? What kind of incantation is that? I have never heard of an incantation like that?" Index inquired.

"Just because you memorized 103,000 of the most sought after grimoires from all around the world doesn't mean you know every incantation in the world. And that incantation is a personal one. One unique to myself." Shirou replied.

"Wait a moment!" Index said as she accusingly pointed at Shirou. "What did you do Sphinx?!"

"I domesticated it." Shirou replied. "Isn't that right, Sphinx?" He lifted the cat and it began to nuzzle itself against his head when he raised it to his face.

"No, Sphinx! You cannot like him." Index protested as she snatched the cat from Shirou's grasp. "What do you mean domesticate?"

"I made Sphinx my familiar."

"No! Sphinx is mine. Release him! I want him as my familiar."

"It's first come, first served." Shirou said as he smiled at his victory.

"No fair!" Index stammered her feet. She quickly forgot about her anger when she saw someone she knew. "Kanzaki! Stiyl! Here! Here!"

Shirou turned to see that it was indeed Stiyl and Kanzaki that Index was shouting and waving at. They were not far away and quickly made their way to them.

"Hello." Shirou greeted.

"Yo." Stiyl greeted back.

"Good evening." Kanzaki responded back.

"Look! Stiyl. Kanzaki. Meet Sphinx!" Index said happily as she showed of her new pet cat.

"Wow, that is freaky." Stiyl commented.

"What is?" Index said as she tilted her head.

"Have you looked at the cat?" Kanzaki added.

"No…" Index then lifted Sphinx so she could see what was 'freaky'. "Wah! Shirou. What did you do to the cat? You said you made Sphinx your familiar, but that shouldn't change his fur colour or eyes. I loved his white fur of black and brown spots. And, his adorable black eyes."

Shirou remained silent. He didn't expect the change to occur that quickly himself. He had made familiars in the past, but they only got white appearance and metallic eyes gradually after being exposed to his mana. An influence from his unique magecraft.

The cat meowed. but Shirou swore he heard inside his mind something that was too absurd, impossible so. A voice that was not his own, chanted his unique incantation, _Trace On_.

"Wah! That hurt." Index shouted as she dropped Sphinx.

He stared in disbelief at the cat that now had been dropped. While nothing seemed different about the cat, beside the fur and eye colour change that had already happened, the cat's fur now had a metallic tinge to it and even reflected light.

 _No doubt about it._ Shirou concluded as he picked Sphinx up.

The damn cat had altered its fur. It had done the same fucking thing that would happen to him if he internalized his Reality Marble into his body, turning any part of his body into swords. Shirou wasn't hurt but the now sharp blade-like fur of the cat, but it was like being poked by a needle.

The cat purred happily in Shirou's embrace, which made Index stare at him in jealousy.

 _Okay… I have never had a familiar react this quickly to my Reality Marble. Usually the change in colour happens over weeks, and their ability to internalize Unlimited Blade Works. The only thing I can think that could cause such a quick and powerful reaction if the cat happens to be a breed of magical cats._ Shirou pondered.

"Kanzaki and I collected the information. It would be faster If I showed you." Stiyl said as he handed Shirou an envelope.

He was quick to recognize what the envelope was. It was a fairly common Mystic Code even back in his former life. A method of carrying information without arousing suspicion. Upon use, it transformed any information that was stored inside and transferred it into the user's mind. Something like the envelope being a USB inserted and transferring the information into a computer, which happened to be the human brain.

One particular piece of information was a positional diagram of Misawa Cram School. However, the picture of the diagram contained errors in regards to the measures when one compared the infrared and ultrasonic scans. Naturally, it was an unknown place that consumed much electricity. A Misawa Cram School electricity bill… Even after investigating the electrical consumption of each room, the sum did not tally up. There seemed to have been a room where "something" was consuming large sums of electricity.

A personnel entry and exit list of Misawa Cram School… The teachers and students seemed to take in a myriad of foods. Some investigators acted as garbage men and checked the trash but the numbers there did not tally either. Misawa seemed to provide food for other "people" inside the building.

The final information was a reported sighting one month prior of a girl walking into the Misawa building. According to a caretaker of the student dormitory, the girl was never again seen at the dorms.

"As of now, it would seem that Misawa Cram School has become a phony religious cult devoted to scientific worship." Stiyl said smoothly. "I don't know what they're teaching. But, to be honest, it's pointless no matter what kind of fanatical religious group that Misawa Cram School becomes because it's already been dissolved."

"…?"

"To put it more bluntly…" Stiyl continued, appearing to have not a care at all. "Misawa Cram School was taken over. The half-baked science phony-religious group was taken over by a real magician. No, an alchemist of the Zurich school to be precise."

"An authentic one...?"

"Yeah, I know it sounds suspicious..."

Shirou thought why a magician, more accurately an alchemist would want to deal with an educational institution in Academy City. His current understanding of the supernatural world, the one of his second life, was not outstanding but passable. He knew the Magic Side was roughly akin to mages of his former life in the Age of Gods, before magecraft had to go undergo to protect its practitioner; where magic disciplines were still separated with each other as their was no unifying organization like the Clocktower or the Church. The Science Side was very similar to Modern Magecraft in its infancy, it was a newly formed discipline that was less half a century old. Magicians made up the Magic Side and Esper made up the Science Side. Each side had uneasy truce and that was not to interfere with the internal affairs of the other.

Magicians of the Magic Side normally would have no interest about espers as each group of supernatural users' specialty were like comparing apples and oranges.

Maybe the alchemist had discovered the crucial link between magic and psychics? He, Shirou Emiya, was one such example as his Reality Marble, Unlimited Blade Works, was a product of both magic and psychic powers. He could use both magic and psychic powers in his magecraft. That alchemist could be someone like him, someone that might be able to use magecraft.

"The question is why the alchemist took over Misawa Cram School. Of course, the simple reason is that he probably feels it convenient to use Misawa as a base. Most of the students may not have realized that the principal of the prep school has changed." Stiyl continued as he exhaled plumes of smoke from his cigarette. "Why did you let Deep Blood go, anyway? We could've extracted the information we wanted if we had tried."

Shirou face palmed. That would've been the worst thing to do. He had been wrong to outright try to demand answers from the miko. She was Deep Blood. The carrier of the legendary blood that made even True Ancestors unable to resist her commands when given the chance to taste the irresistible taste that came with Deep Blood. If any True Ancestor had appeared, then there was little chance that he and his friends would come out victorious without the chance of causalities. He had already fought True Ancestors in the past like Arcueid and Altrouge Brunestud to know how incredible dangerous they were.

Stiyl would've had no chance of coming out alive. He didn't have the combat ability or experience. Index might've a chance thanks to the 103,000 grimores she had memorized as they might have some knowledge or magic that could be used against a True Ancestor. Kanzaki had the greatest chance of survival beside himself as she was a Saint, possessing a fragment of the power that Jesus had possessed.

He had made the quick decision to let Asia go. Hence, Stiyl's anger about that missed opportunity.

"Let's forgot about that. The past is the past." Shirou said.

"Originally, Misawa Cram seemed like they imprisoned Asia." Kanzaki continued, speaking before Stiyl could continue with arguing with Shirou about past events. "But Deep Blood was already a target for the alchemist. Misawa Cram had simply taken her first. No, perhaps for him, it couldn't have been helped. His original plan should have been to abduct Deep Blood without any notice and proceed to escape Academy City. However, because Misawa blew it out of proportion, his plans was ruined."

"So… he forcefully took what he wanted from Misawa?"

"Yeah. For the alchemist, it's his greatest wish to be able to get Deep Blood… or, more accurately it's the wish of for the entirety of magicians. Or maybe even the wish of the entire world."

"Immorality." Shirou stated.

"We have to save her! Just like you saved me, Shirou." Index spoke up.

"I will." Shirou agreed. "But, you cannot be part of that." Shirou looked at Kanzaki. "Kanzaki, can you take Index home and protect her? Stiyl and I will deal with this matter."

"Okay." Kanzaki said as she began to drag Index with her.

"No, Shirou. I can help." Index protested.

"Sorry, Index may you cannot."

"At least, let me take Sphinx then!"

Shirou was about to agree to that demand when something unexpected occurred.

"Where is Sphinx?"

\- O -

"Before we charge into Misawa Cram, let's talk about our 'enemy.'" Stiyl said.

"The enemy's name is Aureolus."

"Paracelsus von Hohenheim. Is that who we are up against?" Shirou asked.

If this was Paracelsus von Hohenheim that was still alive from the 16th century then Shirou would definitely have to bring out his big guns. The powerful Noble Phantasms of his arsenal. Shirou had fought Paracelsus. Not the living Paracelsus of course, but a crude copy of the Heroic Spirit Paracelsus von Hohenheim in the Grand Order Crisis as Caster-class Servant. Paracelsus' Noble Phantasm, Sword of Paracelsus, was a pain to deal with. It had two abilities. The primary one was to being able to discern the strengths and weaknesses of magic, and even allowing Paracelsus to replicate his opponent's magic. The second was to act as a mana storage device. And there was Paracelsus' own formidable magical skills.

"He is not the problem. It would be if he was able to use Deep Blood to capture a vampire."

"Fuck," cursed Shirou.

Fighting someone that qualified to become a Heroic Spirit was one thing. They could be stronger or weaker than a Servant copy of themselves, but a True Ancestor was another league by itself. Bringing out the big guns was not going to be enough. He was definitely going to have to rely on Unlimited Blade Works. That was going to be the only way that he was going to have a chance of defeating a True Ancestor if they decided to use Counter Force.

"That is just great. We are not only Paracelsus von Hohenheim, but also a True Ancestor."

"Hm? Oh, you don't have to worry about that. We are not dealing with him, but his descendant who are nowhere near as powerful as him."

"…I see. So we are dealing with his descendant."

"His name is Aureoulus Izzard. His power isn't really that much. He is mostly a scholar than someone with raw offensive power."

Shirou wanted to brain Stiyl for his stupidity. While it was certainly true that a magician that solely dedicated their lives in the pursuit of knowledge was weaker than a magician that trained for combat, Aureoulus Izzard might be a support magician. Someone that relied on something else to fight on the frontline while they supported from the sideline: strengthening their allies or weakening their enemies. And Stiyl couldn't really talk as he was more along the lines of a support magician too as he used summons like Innocentius to fight the most part.

Especially someone that could have the aid of a True Ancestor.

"We are here," announced Stiyl.

The building could only have been described as strange. The building itself was rectangular and rather standard. However, there were four 12-story buildings on each corner of the junction. Additionally, the linked pathways were overhead, as if forming a suspended bridge above the road as they linked the buildings.

Examining the building, it was implausible for people to associate it with the term "religious science" that was outside of normal understanding. It truly seemed like an ordinary cram school: there were students walking in and out on occasion. It was nothing abnormal.

"Anyways, our initial target is the 5th level of the South Building beside the restaurant. Apparently there's a secret room there." Stiyl said conversationally.

"A secret room?"

"Yeah. It should be some trick illusion or distortion that makes people ignorant of its existence. The building's interior is like a kid's toy block, there are many crevices." Stiyl stared at the building. "…I found 17 secret rooms just looking at the diagram. And the closest one is the one beside the restaurant on the South Building's 5th floor."

"Give me a second," said Shirou as he began to sniff the air.

"What the hell are you doing?" Stiyl asked at Shirou's questionable actions.

"One of my nicknames is Hound. I got that name for my ability to track down magic with my nose. Dependable of factors, I can even discern what kind of magic through the scent of magical energy."

Stiyl frowned but otherwise remained silent. He had yet to see the full extent of Shirou Emiya's abilities, but he trusted him. That was the very least he could do for saving Index from having to constantly have her memories erased and the magic that could kill Index.

"Find anything?"

"Nothing. There is no magic enchanted on the exterior of the building," replied Shirou. "It's the interior that is a completely different story."

"I want to get this over as soon as possible. Since Deep Blood is inside, the longer we take then the more chance there is of a vampire if there isn't one already inside the building."

"Well we could bring down the entire building by destroying it's critical points. If Aureoulus Izzard somehow survives then we can fight wounded and weakened Aureoulus."

"Oi, oi," said Stiyl in a shocked tone as his cigarette fall out of his mouth. "You're kidding right? Do you know students and staff that might be inside. We are talking about sacrificing between a few dozen to hundreds of people here."

"One for ten. Ten for hundred. Hundred for thousand. Sometimes it's only a matter of the scale. If Deep Blood is left alone then that is more time that a vampire or two will be attracted to Academy City."

"You're talking heavy shit, man. I didn't take you for that kind of person. Someone that would sacrifice others if it is necessary."

"It was a joke," said Shirou with victorious smile. "I cannot believe I got you."

"Don't do that, you had been fooled!"

"If that was only true… I have and will sacrifice the few for the many if I have too," muttered Shirou darkly.

"Let's go." Stiyl Magnus said.

Without another word, Shirou and Stiyl approached the automatic doors. They hid their presence by masking the magical energy that came out of their body and cloaking themselves in magic that would divert non-magicians eyes from them.

Upon entering through the class doors, they found the scene to be extremely normal. Much of the glass that built the hall brought in extra sunlight. The hall itself was extremely wide and approximately three stories high. Near the elevator, a non-renovated staircase was placed for the sake of emergency exits.

Perhaps as a result of being evening, it was break time for ordinary schools. The length of time should have been as long as an afternoon excursion and there were a modicum of student heading out to purchase dinners.

Shirou and Stiyl were not attracting any real attention, possibly because the manager had not memorized every student's appearance. And, even if they were discovered to be outsiders, considering it was an entrance hall, others would have believed they were there to consolidate the administration process.

"There's nothing here. Anyways, either we find Himegami or crush Izzard." Stiyl said with ease.

"We deal with Izzard first. He is the one that has potential hostage in the forms of students and staff of this cram school."

\- O -

Their initial goal was to seek the gaps in the building, the secret rooms. The nearest secret room was on the fifth floor of the South Block building so they began to climb stairs.

Shirou climbed the narrow emergency staircase.

"My legs…" Stiyl looked down at his legs that were showing fatigue.

Shirou resisted the urge to laugh at Stiyl's condition. For someone that was so large and well-built, he was someone that got tired very easily. It was clear that he had not done much physical training and was unaccustomed to strenuous physical activity. Someone that might use magic to create the body that girls and women loved, but didn't put in the physical effort to create and maintain it.

"How are you not tired?" Stiyl inquired.

"Unlike a certain someone, I train diligently."

"So Kanzaki wasn't joking when she said that you ran with her in her daily twenty kilometer runs."

"Well twenty kilometers isn't that difficult as it would be for a normal human."

"You're the only one beside Kanzaki that can move faster than the speed of sound," retorted Stiyl. "Che… if I had known, we should have taken the elevator."

After climbing to the fifth floor, Shirou and Stiyl arrived at a corridor.

Stiyl had completely memorized the diagram of Misawa Cram School, which was why they had gone to that floor. Using the parameters of the diagram and actual measurements taken through infrared and ultrasonic means, he had derived error spaces.

Halfway through the middle of the straight corridor, Stiyl destoyed on a normal-looking wall.

"What was that for?" Shirou inquired.

"I just destroyed a wardstone I just found. One less Bounded Field for Aureolus to keep the students and staff of the cram school as hostage." Stiyl replied.

"We don't have time for that. If we waste time knocking out every wardstone that is less time to find and deal with Aureolus. We can force him to remove all the Bounded Fields in the building by threatening or killing him."

They headed down the wall nearest to the secret room and they arrived at the student cafeteria. It seemed they were mixing the people into the wide room to dilute the secret room's existence. It applied an allusion and there were no doors for secret room visible from the cafeteria entrance.

To prevent themselves from being caught in the crowded entrance, Shirou and Stiyl entered the cafeteria.

Boys fought for the few available seats and the girls carried trays of food and chatted away as they walked. People rushed about like bulls. Unlike a corridor, the movements in the wide cafeteria were unpredictable. Shirou and Stiyl were carefully avoiding the crowd.

Since it was evening, many students were in the cafeteria. It was actually quite the refreshing experience for Shirou to have others ignore his presence, a feeling unknown when moving in traffic jams. Those experienced in such matters would realize that surrounding people consciously avoid one another to prevent collision.

The secret room contained a counter and behind it a small kitchen. The large freezer and utensils made the kitchen feel even more cramped, causing others to be ignorant of the space's actual size.

"…Hm. It's my first time actually seeing a science religion but it doesn't look like much. It thought they'd at least put up the picture of some bishop."

"…It's true it doesn't look that dangerous." Shirou looked around.

In the realm of science, there were indicators of a religion's fanaticism. For example, there include the level of acquiring funds from believers, the expansion level of indoctrinating new believers, the absolutism level where believers accept all orders even at risk of self-destruction, the dangerous item level where poisonous gases or explosives are produced, and so on. Religions that scored higher were deemed as decidedly more dangerous.

From a scientific viewpoint, Misawa Cram was unlike truly dangerous religions. As members were students, acquiring significant funds was unlikely and as a cram school, creating chemical weapons was not a feasible idea.

"…No. This really is a dangerous science cult." Shirou said disdainfully.

Though the students were gathered in a cafeteria, the atmosphere was as heavy as an elevator.

 _It's to be expected,_ Shirou thought. _Everyone here might be talking happily but the conversations aren't._

They had little else to discuss aside from things that belittled others like "how many I beat the last practice exam," "how many points my score went up," or "I don't understand how there're trash who won't study" for the sake of self-gratification.

Shirou examined an extremely ordinary cram school poster on the cafeteria wall. On it were two extreme sentences, "If you study hard now, you'll get into a great school and assure yourself a great future." and "If you don't study now, you'll end up at the bottom and meet misfortune."

Such threatening intents were no different from radical religions.

"Hmph. This school's motto is something like 'extremely smart shall be those that study here,' right? Well. These teachers must be brainwashing the kids with things like 'this is something that'll definitely be tested. I'm telling you, those that didn't study here over the summer are inferior', huh?"

"How infuriating." Shirou muttered with true disgust.

He was unhappy that he could actually somewhat empathize for them. _Exams tend to be involved in superstitions._ Regardless of their sedulousness, students tended to attempt unscientific foods that increased concentration or would even bring to the exam hall talismans for becoming the top scorer.

It was a deficiency called insecurity. The religion of Misawa Cram exploited this gap and stabbed into it with a knife.

"Hm. Seems like you've been interested by the fanatical gas, eh? But, don't forget our aim. We need to find the secret entrance."

"Oh. Okay, okay! I got it!" Shirou took a deep, calming breath and turned to examine the entire cafeteria.

Immediately, approximately 80 students turned to stare at him. Initially, Shirou was under the impression that his loudly speaking resulted in attracting their attention.

"Well. This doesn't look good…"

Shirou agreed. He and Stiyl had masked their presence with a very small and simple Bounded Fields on their bodies. It should make non-magicians unable to perceive their presence.

Close to 80 students were without question staring at them. Their individual humanness had disappeared and was replaced with a blank, glass-like stare.

Stiyl abandoned Shirou and backed away.

" _The wings of the seraph shines brightly and the bright light is a pure white color that reveals all sins…_ " One of the students near the front began to mutter ambiguities.

" _The pure white color is proof of purity, the mark is the result of one's actions…_ " An additional voice overlapped with the first.

" _The result is the future, the future is time is uniform…_ "

The number of voices that spoke increased.

" _Uniformity is all, all is created by the past, the past is the cause, cause is one.  
One is sin, sin are humans.  
Humans fear, fear is guilt.  
Guilt resides within oneself.  
If in oneself there is something one despises,  
the wings of the seraph shall reveal your sins and purge it from within!_"

An 80-person chorus, or perhaps a pugilistic verbal maelstrom created by the thousands within the building, echoed unceasingly.

Hovering in front of each student's forehead was a ping-pong ball sized blue-white glow. Perhaps the orbs were beginning to gather as they floated and even stuck to the floor below Shirou, coming from the lower floor. And then, like explosives or the sizzling of a strong acid, the orbs emitted smoke. Touching even one would have caused burns.

Shirou ran and followed Stiyl.

With a boom, a large number of the orbs filed out of the entrance and flooded out the floodgates that were the cafeteria entrance. Shirou and Stiyl could only run down the corridor.

"What are we dealing with? I don't recognize the magic spell or ritual," asked Shirou.

"Tch. Speaking of which… this might be a replica, but to be able to replicate the Gregorian Chant means I underestimated Aureolus Izzard."

"What's is it exactly?"

"Once, it was the ultimate weapon… A grand spell that required 3,333 praying monks gathered in a cathedral. It was like running sunlight through a magnifying glass to increase output." Stiyl gritted his teeth. "Though this's a replica with only 2,000 students, as the saying goes in this country, 'pile up sand and you can build a tower.' Its power can't be underestimated."

Shirou had to agree. Even if it was 2000 ordinary humans that were being used for the magic ritual, that was a lot of magical energy behind the attacks. Not something that he would want to take head-on. Sure he could easily take it without any problem but that would be resorting to Noble Phantasms. The problem is he didn't know how powerful Aureolus Izzard, so he wanted to conserve every drop of mana if he could. And there was the unknown possibility of encountering a True Ancestor. Dodging would be the best way to conserve his mana rather than fighting.

"How do we disrupt the magic ritual?"

"The answer is in the core. The Gregorian Chant requires the simultaneous controlling of 2,000 people or it fails. If we can find the core of the 2,000 people and destroy it, we'll end the Gregorian Chant."

The two of them ran down the long corridor and finally arrived near the staircase. At the same moment, they noticed a large number of blue-white orbs deluging in. They were pincered.

"The stairs! Move it!"

Shirou and Stiyl frantically ducked under the stairs beside them.

"Since you seem to know how to disrupt the magic ritual, go. I will take them," said Shirou.

"Are you sure?" Stiyl asked.

"Go! I got this."

"Don't die on me!"

"I don't plan to." Shirou said with a smirk. " _Trace On_."

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

 **Follow and Favorite. I am encouraged to write by the number of Follows and Favourites so please tag this story!**

 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


	7. Fake

**Chapter Seven "Fake"**

Stiyl watched as an expended flaming sword vanished. Card runes scattered into the air like sakura petals. There was an ordinary corridor a floor above Shirou, where Stiyl knew the core of the Gregorian Chant was.

He was a magician. To him, the detection of mana flow was a specialty and such a feat was simple. Though the energy harnessed by each individual student was miniscule, the power to control 2,000 people from a single point made the core's location obvious.

"…I see. He had so much confidence in his defenses would keep out intruders from entering this room that he left the core of his defenses undefended?" Stiyl muttered with a cigarette in his mouth.

Stiyl uninterestedly puffed smoke while he created formless flames. He unleashed the flames upon the room that was covered in runic writing, that made the foundations of the various Bounded Fields that created the magical defenses within the building.

Stiyl destroyed it and ended the Gregorian Chant.

"…Speaking of which…" Stiyl shook his cigarette. "Looking at this bloody trail, it seems like even the alchemist has fallen so far since we met. A real bloody road should be made with one's own blood, right?"

One could not be an esper or magician at the same time. An esper and magician's physical makeup were different. If espers even attempted magic, the unstable mana would rip apart the blood vessels and nerves in the body. The reverse was true of a magician attempted to use psychic powers that espers had.

"Though, how was Shirou Emiya an exception?" Stiyl muttered in curiosity.

Countless magicians and espers had attempted to learn the abilities of their counterpart. All had failed. Injured if they gave up. Crippled or dead for those who continued to press against the rejection of their body for the abilities of the other side. Somehow Shirou Emiya was an exception.

Index's savior was both an esper and magician. There was no doubt about it. His affinity with weapons was unlike anything he had seen. Not only was he able to create faithful replicas of legendary artefacts such Kanshou & Bakuya, Rhio Aias and Avalon, but the skills he demonstrated with each artefact was something that he shouldn't have been able to master at his young age despite him being a prodigy. Only someone that was decades older should be able too.

Stiyl was snapped out his musing when he heard the clear sound of footsteps approaching him from another direction. The steps were confident, had an unsuppressed volume, and seemed to fully express their killing intent, prepared to deliver the killing blow. Whoever the footsteps belonged was absolutely confident. It was like daring to knock on an enemy's door while fully intending to attack. Absolute confidence. A declaration of war with the firm belief of success, a preemptive declaration of victory.

The owner of the footsteps spoke. "Naturally, by using the pseudo-Gregorian Chant, I knew I could lure you to the core, no matter where you were hiding." The footsteps prolonging, he continued. "Certainly, there should be two intruders… where's the other one? Was that friend of your swallowed by the Gregorian Chant?"

"It would take more than that to happen. That guy is incredible strong. Strong enough to take on Kanzaki and defeat her." Stiyl said. Then he muttered the last part to himself. "Even if she used only a fraction of her strength and defeated before she could fight seriously, I bet even he had shown a fraction of his abilities."

Stiyl turned to face the owner of the footsteps, his eyes no longer smiling by the end of the turn.

The footsteps came from a pair of Italian leather shoes. The long legs and two meter tall build were wrapped in an expensive, white Western suit. His name was Aureolus, and 18 year old male. He had dyed green hair to signify his control of one of the five elements, earth, while the slicked hairstyle made the Caucasian male all the more unique.

"Very funny, Stiyl. If that was is supposed to scare me then you have failed miserably. Kanzaki Kaori is a Saint. One of the strongest humans alive. Few are able to fight her one-on-on. Only the other Saints have any real chance of coming out on top." Aureolus said.

"Take as how you wish. I am telling your truth," said Stiyl. "What now? What do you intend to do by luring me here when you aren't a fighter? You should know that you alone can't stop me. Or rather, how many magic tools do you have on you, antique salesman?"

"Idiot. Can't you tell that I don't have any on me?"

"I guess so. But, this entire building itself is one large magic tool. That is unless you are scared that I will continue to destroy the Bounded Fields of the building, weakening you by reducing the power of your magic tool."

"You bastard…!"

Like a snake slithering out of its hole, a cold knife shot out of Aureolus' right sleeve with a swoosh.

 _A dart…?_ Stiyl frowned.

Though it seemed like a dart, it was the size of a dagger. As Stiyl began to believe it was throwing weapon…

"Transmute!"

Immediately, the huge dart flew out like a bullet at Stiyl's eye with a golden chain attached at the end. Stiyl bent his body downwards and the snake-like golden dart flew overhead. A second golden chain flew out of Aureolus' sleeve, ripped through the air and grazed Stiyl's face.

"Tch."

With the sound of a fruit being sliced open, the tip of the dart stabbed into the back of a fallen student.

"…" Stiyl wondered what to say. "…?"

BAM! As if piercing a balloon, the student's body burst into bits and fluids. It was as if someone had used a powerful acid to dissolve the body but… something was strange. It was not an ordinary liquid but a shiny gold… It was pure gold that melted from the intense heat. With a swish, the chain curled and the dart was back into Aureolus' sleeve.

"Why are you so shocked?" Aureolus again raised his right hand. "I'm an alchemist. Anyone who's touched by my Instant Alchemy Limen Magna, will be forcefully transmuted into pure gold. It can't be defended from nor avoided. Now, show me your ace, your Innocentius. I'm truly interested to see whether the shapeless flames can turn into gold."

The golden dagger lunged out of his sleeve like a snake.

"…" But, Stiyl did not speak. He seemed incredulous of the situation and completely rooted to his location.

"Hm. Inevitable. It's to be expected you would be shocked after seeing my Limen Magna. But, don't get killed too easily, I'm not satisfied yet. That attitude of your from five seconds ago can't be compensated even if you died 10,000 times."

"So, why must you do something so meaningless?" With surprise, Stiyl Magnus muttered like a child who saw a ghost.

"What…?" The alchemist was shocked.

"What's so surprising about what I'm saying? The point of magic is to experiment, not get results, right? Even if an expert can make a magic drug in five seconds, what's the difference if the drug's effects are the same?"

Acting like he had seen something truly idiotic, Stiyl sighed. "It's the same with what you did. Limen Magna? How stupid. How is this any different from dumping acid on someone?"

"…Just…"

"I know you're trying really hard, but it's too much of an overkill to use Innocentius for this. I have no need for him here. I can take you on without him."

"…JUST SHUT UP!"

In an attempt to block out the mockery, Aureolus released another Limen Magna from his right sleeve. The dart flew out with the alchemist's rage and, as the strike was much too quick, formed afterimages of several golden lasers. A barrage of ten in one second, the flesh and blood body of the magician Stiyl could not match the velocities. In the end, six of the ten stabbed through the head and abdomen like a sewing machine.

"And, what's with this? Haven't you realized you're just a magic tool?"

The runic cards owned by Stiyl danced about in the air. His upper body was pierced into the shape of a honeycomb and there was even a hole through his head the width of an arm. However, Stiyl Magnus' extremely bored and unenthusiastic voice still continued.

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!?"

Extremely stunned, Aureolus continued to fire Limen Magna and Stiyl's tatter upper body was continually pierced and his formerly unharmed lower body was also gaining holes.

"Using corpse and soul of the dead. That is what you're made out of. But, I'm just looking for the real Aureolus Izzard. Will the fake Aureolus please step aside?" Stiyl said, while his body swayed in the air. He gradually became transparent, seemingly about to disappear at any moment, but he continued to remain standing.

"What are you talking about!? These words defy basic premises! Obviously I created Limen Magna. Where else would this power come from?"

"Of course it came from the real Aureolus Izzard. I believe you're beginning to realize something wrong, right? Alright, let me ask you a question. Fake Aureolus, why did you start to learn alchemy?"

"…Is there even a need to ask?" Aureolus said, raising Limen Magna. "The only aim of alchemy is to seek truth. I specialize in humans. Seeing how high I can go while maintaining a humane concept is the answer I seek."

"If that's the case, why do you want a vampire, something said to surpass human understanding?"

The words of the magician crushed his beliefs.

"…"

"Hmph. See? You don't understand. You don't understand anything. You don't know what Aureolus Izzard is doing and you don't know what Aureolus Izzard is thinking of doing. You're just a fake with basic ideas in your mind that can't even understand why Aureolus Izzard would go against his fundamental beliefs to do this." The magician that should have been physically ravaged spoke with more arrogance than the alchemist

"Ugh… Ah…"

"I'll say it as many times as you like. You're a fake. I'm looking for the real Aureolus Izzard, not you. Though it'd be easy to destroy one or two of your security functions, I'm not too willing since your face is so familiar. Get as from here as you can."

The fake Aureolus could take no more. It was not an issue of being a fake. The point was that he had spent immeasurable effort to create that one and only spell, how could it have originated from another person? The fake Aureolus decided to use his full power to crush the enemy before him, raising his blade.

"Also, you should understand this one clearly. How could the real Aureolus Izzard lose so easily?" A voice from behind the alchemist spoke.

In a moment, a warm, oven-like atmosphere brushed past the alchemist's face. Then, in a formerly empty place, Stiyl Magnus appeared.

 _A mirage…?!_ The fake Aureolus began to back away.

The so-called mirage was a phenomenon caused by thermal expansion that caused light to refract. Thus, it was possible for Stiyl to seemingly melt into the air or cause himself to appear somewhere like a movie projection. Such a fake image was what was repeatedly speared by Limen Magna. The true Stiyl had hidden himself in the air and crept behind Aureolus.

Aureolus thoroughly perceived Stiyl's tactic in but a moment. It was with such mirages that Stiyl avoided Limen Magna. However, the illusions that were speared seemed to cause mental falsehoods for the alchemist and the moments where the illusion and body overlapped were the most precarious.

If Stiyl stopped to think, he would have been filled with holes.

As the false Aureolus dragged his thought back to reality, a sword of flames appeared in Stiyl's right hand, which swung vertically and hacked his left hand and leg off. The cuts were extremely smooth, like a hot knife slicing butter. The parts sliced by 3000 Celsius flames did not even bleed.

"Uuah… Ah…" What dominated the alchemist's mind was not the bodily pain.

 _Also, you should understand this one clearly. How could the real Aureolus Izzard lose so easily?_ Stiyl's words echoed in his mind and shook it.

It was true, Aureolus Izzard was certainly invincible and overwhelming, never knowing either failure or retreat. He could only have been called a perfect saint. But… what was his currently sorry state? As of then, was he no different from a frightened cat that used all sorts of gimmicks for protection and trembled before attacks?

"A…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The fake Aureolus finally lost all sanity. Despite his lack of an arm and a leg, the fake alchemist still fired Limen Magna. Stiyl, still wary of the golden dart, raised his flaming sword. However, Limen Magna flew off in a completely different direction, stabbing the students gathered on the floor and causing the entire floor to overflow with molten gold.

Then, Aureolus stabbed Limen Magna into the molten gold, perhaps having the ability to manipulate pure gold like how a magnet attracts iron sand, splattering gold all over. Of course, this included the area around Stiyl Magnus, who responded with casual blocking and a flame-sword explosion. Though the numerous droplets of gold were not blockable, the storm repelled them.

Stiyl then created a new sword and sliced apart the smoke surrounding him. He saw no signs of the fake Aureolus, who had possibly escaped during the explosion, and hesitated whether to chase after him, but decided otherwise. The five meter corridor before him was covered in high temperature, lava-like molten gold that would result in burns if the distance was not jumped.

It seemed he could only make a detour, but, lucky for him, Misawa Cram School consisted of four buildings and each was linked through an overhead corridor.

 _There's nowhere I can't go if I don't mind some detours._ Stiyl pondered.

\- O -

Shirou Emiya stared at the absurdity that was before him. When he had sent Stiyl away to buy him to time, he had been prepared to fight the 80 or so students that were using magic. What he didn't expect was Sphinx to appear.

"Even more bizarre was how Sphinx dealt with the situation," said Shirou as he sweatdropped.

The cat meowed happily and licked at its paw, acting like an ordinary cat like it was trying to hide the fact that it had dispatched 80 students in one go. Sphinx had fired its fur. Each piece of hair transforming into blade that moved with the speed of bullet. Sphinx had not just fired at randomly. Each hair-turned-blade had hit areas of the human body that would kill instantly.

He stared at the eighty or so souls that had been killed by one of the most cutest animals known to man, a small and adorable kitten.

"This is so messed up. An adorable and cute, killer cat." Shirou muttered in disbelief as he surveyed the corpses.

"Damn it! Damn it! Exactly why am I so injured! He's supposed to be material but he's dragging me down… Kuku… huhu... dragging me down? Dragging me down? That's interesting, isn't it Aureolus Izzard! You don't even have a leg for others to pull! Kuku! Kukuku! You bastards looked down on me! In the end I'M GOING TO MELT ALL OF YOU…!" An abnormally loud male voice said, sounding like crashing echoes.

With an extremely loud swoosh and the sound of dragging, the man escaped down the stairs and into the corridor. Shirou was stunned by the green-haired foreigner in a white suit. His left arm and leg were sliced off at the joints and slanted golden sticks were attached the damage parts, serving as crutches. It should have been painful but the man seemed unperturbed. His sweaty, exaggerated face perhaps betrayed the anger, hatred, ecstasy and insanity that served as anesthetic for the man.

In each hand, his normal right hand and prosthetic left, were the collars of bloodied boys and girls, three on each for a total of six.

"Aureolus Izzard." Shirou identified the man, remembering him from information that Stiyl had given to him earlier.

The man stared at Shirou with bloodshot eyes. "Kid, what're you doing here? Only magicians are allow here! Are you an intruder? A friend of that flame magician?"

He was approximately three meters away and continued to allow his saliva to fly. However, Shirou stood his ground.

Shirou looked at Aureolus with a cold gaze. It was obvious what the six students that he dragged in his hands suffered. It was unlikely the students were going to be used as human shields. Alchemists had a tendency to use other humans as sacrifices during battle for all kinds of alchemy.

"Why… those students?" Shirou asked, knowing full well what was likely the reason.

"Of course these are just materials! Alchemy requires materials! Why're you looking at them? That's weird! Aureolus Izzard and his Limen Magna stand before you and you're looking at the materials!? I should be perfect! Why are you unmoved!? What do I lack!?"

The man was going to pay for trying to use the students.

Shirou was a mage. He understood the logic of sacrifice. That was only if the goal was truly justified. Counter Guardian EMIYA, the "Mage Killer" Kiritsugu Emiya and himself all prepared to sacrifice the few to save the many. Not because they wanted too, but because they had no choice in saving as many lives as possible. And there were many other honorable researches that required the sacrifice in the name of the greater good like finding a cure for a disease. Sacrificing human lives for the selfish and greedy goal of one individual was despicable and unforgivable.

"Surrender. If you come peacefully then your punishment shall be mercy."

"Ku…!? Damn you!" With Aureolus' growl flew a large golden dart from the right sleeve, which quickly spun around the alchemist, the golden chain making some sort of boundary.

The dart pierced through the bloody students that Aureolus had dragged with him. The six students immediately melted into something gold. It was no ordinary fluid. The mercury-like metallic substance's hissing and the noisy beast-like breathing of the steam proved that the fluid was molten metal.

Aureolus faced Shirou, seething with anger.

"Of course. ACCEPT YOUR FATE!" Aureolus cried out and the golden dart and chain spun around the alchemist with increasing velocity.

Even the surrounding golden dirt flew in mid air like a tornado. It seemed like a wall, yet like a tsunami and yet like a meteor crashing into the sea. It raised waves around Aureolus that extended to the ceiling.

The fluid formed by the spike was different from water. Rather, it was more like sticky, melted chocolate. Even if it were to crash like a tsunami, splash damage would not have been a factor. Then, a hole appeared in the golden tsunami from whence a golden dart lunged with terrifying speed.

Shirou did not dodge. Instead, he caught the golden dart.

After a moment, the golden tsunami began to rise. The golden sea separated Shirou and Aureolus a distance of three meters. The golden tsunami engulfed Shirou and passed by harmless.

"What—What's going on?" After the gold tsunami subsided, Aureolus reappeared, seeming to be more anxious, perhaps even confused. "How are you completely unaffected! Without question, my Limen Magna is alchemy's pinnacle! It's a miracle that even two schools, Bohemia and Vienna, abandoned thinking it impossible! This is unbelievable! Exactly what did you use to negate my magic?!"

Shirou snorted. His Magic Resistance was something that could even resist Medusa' petrifying gaze. And there was his armor that enhanced his already formidable magic resistance. While not were near as powerful as someone else' Magic Resistance like Arturia, his own natural and the armor's magic resistance was more than enough to deal with the alchemy that Aureolus just used.

"Ha. How satisfying! Haha! THIS IS SATISFYING. YOU'RE TRULY FASCINATING, BOY! WHAT'S YOUR BODY'S SECRET? LET ME, A MAGIC DOCTOR, DISSECT YOU AND ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS!"

Aureolus swung his right hand vertically and revealed a new dart that was pointed at the spot between Shirou's eyebrows, exacting the killing intent held in his eyes.

Sphinx roared as it stood on top of Shirou's head, having deflected the golden dart with a shot of blade from its fur.

"Tch!"

Another dart appeared from Aureolus right sleeve. Golden darts fired out like machine guns from Aureolus' suit.

As first as Aureolus was firing the golden darts, Sphinx was just as fast.

"HAHA! HAHAHAHA! SUCH AN INTERESTING FAMILIAR!" Though he was continuously unable to kill his enemy, Aureolus seemed quite ecstatic. He was like an adventurer exploring some mysterious place that none had reached prior. "IT'S NOT ENOUGH! HAHA! BOY! THIS ISN'T ENOUGH!"

The speeds of the golden dart's destruction and regeneration more than doubled, continuously ripping the air and flying at Shirou.

Sphinx was more than enough to deal with the increased rain of golden darts. In fact, the cat had began to sit down and nuzzle its body against Shirou's head, all the while lazily shooting its fur to deflect the incoming projectiles.

 _This is so absurd. After this, I definitely investigate Sphinx' true origin. He is not an ordinary cat,_ thought Shirou. _I cannot let Sphinx do all the work._

Shirou disappeared and reappeared behind Aureolus.

"Wh-Urk!" Aureolus shouted as was lifted into the air, courtesy of being punched in the back.

A kick to the downed Aureolus' head knocked him.

"Now what should I do with him? What do you think, Sphinx?"

Footseps came down the stairs.

Shirou didn't turn his head. There was no need to worry. He knew who was. It was Stiyl. The sound of his footsteps matched the profile of someone of Stiyl's mass would make with their footsteps. And as a secondary confirmation, he smelled the scent of Stiyl.

Stiyl's flames descended upon the unconscious Aureolus, quickly consuming the inside of his body. The flames burst out from every opening and the abdomen shattered, splitting him in two. Copious flames continued to burst out. Aureolus' corpse broke up and shot out like a rocket.

"Why did you kill him?" Shirou asked in annoyed tone as all the effort he went to securing the now-dead Aureolus had been wasted.

"That's wasn't the real Aureolus. If you saw by the fact that the fake was sporting prosthesis, that was my work cutting of an arm and leg. The fake didn't even know anything we wanted to know." Stiyl responded. "Oh, hey this was where the cat had gone… wait a moment. Why is it doing on your head and here?"

"I have no idea…" Shirou said as he made to the scent he picked up. "Since the fake was likely a clone of the real Aureolus, I found where he is. I picked up his scent."

"Led the way then," said Stiyl, "but you must really be a bloodhound."

Sphinx meowed like it was agreeing with Stiyl, but Shirou ignored the jab. He had an alchemist that was willingly to sacrifice humans to achieve his goals. And he was going to put him down.

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

 **Follow and Favorite. I am encouraged to write by the number of Follows and Favourites so please tag this story!**

 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


	8. Explosions

**Chapter Eight "Explosions"**

Shirou Emiya and Stiyl Magnus journeyed for the top floor of the North block. They faced essentially no resistance. There was no one, no subordinates, no soldiers or not even Aureolus, himself. It was like the enemy didn't know where they were or knew where they were and waiting. Whatever the case, Shirou and Stiyl was prepared.

"Stiyl, if we are to face a True Ancestor than run. There is nothing you can do to help, in fact you will be a hindrance since I would have to protect you," said Shirou in a serious tone.

"You make it sound like you have fought vampires before? How have you managed to survive an encounter with one? All records about vampires said that they were so powerful that they have been no recorded cases of anyone living to tell the tale. And why do you call them True Ancestors?" Stiyl inquired, very curious.

"They don't like to called vampires. The myths and legends associated with them, especially one that portrays weakness to stuff like sunlight, garlic and etc. They are proud of their abilities and would never went to be associated with being weak. Hence, why they are True Ancestors." Shirou answered. "And yes, I have fought and survived against a True Ancestor. I have killed a few by myself, but survived narrowly. The other times I have killed True Ancestors were with the assistance of allies."

"What? How have you been able to survive, much less kill one? There have been no records of anyone living to tell the story or kill one. Only Deep Blood is known to have killed any number of True Ancestors, as you call them."

Shirou had to resort to lying. There was no way he could tell Stiyl that the True Ancestors that he was talking about had occurred in his former life, and one that in a completely different reality. He said the next best thing he could to reply.

"You didn't know about me until Index accidently stumbled upon me and got my help, right?"

"Ya, there was absolutely nothing about you, and you told me that you have never been affiliated with any magical organization until you met Index."

"I remained low-key and unknown until the whole Index crisis."

"Oh, so that's why. Just as you remained unknown, so did your deeds. I see." Stiyl said as he nodded in understanding. "Wait.. that makes no sense. If you're never affliated with an organization then how did you get assistance of allies to help you kill True Ancestors?"

 _Shit_ , mentally cursed Shirou.

He was too late. A very well hidden Bounded Field that had escaped his notice had activated. All he could do was prepare for what was to come. Shirou was about fight when hit by a wave of foreign magical energy that attempted to enter his body. He was about to resist it when he saw that Stiyl had succumbed already. An idea popped into his mind that second.

Shirou allowed the foreign magical energy enter his body, bypassing his magic resistance because he suppressed it. He suppressed the second part of his magic resistance, which was to flush out foreign mana out of his magic circuits. That allowed the foreign mana to travel through his magic circuits unimpeded. Just as the foreign mana was travelled into his brain and execute the command of its source, Shirou quickly trapped the foreign mana with his own. So it couldn't do anything.

 _I need to keep up with the façade._ Shirou thought.

He had seen his share of hypnotized and brainwashed individuals to know how to pretend to be one. Shirou adopted a natural standing position with his muscles relaxed. His eyes stared blankly into space. Stiyl, not far away from where he was, was exactly like Shirou was acting.

"How is Index these days? And who is her current partner?" A voice that Shirou recognized as Aureolus Izzard, likely the real one, ordered.

"Index is doing fine. No in fact, she is happy with her new partner. Her current partner is Shirou Emiya." Stiyl replied in machine-like voice.

"Shirou Emiya? Who is he?"

"A Esper. He is also a magician. A magician-esper hybrid like Motoharu Tsuchimikado, but he is the only known and confirmed case who is able to use both magic and psychic powers without any side effects. Interestingly, he calls himself a Mage and practices a hybrid magic-esper system that he calls Magecraft."

Shirou promised himself that Stiyl was going to pay. While Stiyl had yet to reveal any important information about him, that was yet to be seen.

"Well that's good. If Index is having fun, that is all I can wish for." Aureolus said in a happily, but with a hint of jealousy. "How powerful and experienced is he? This Shirou Emiya?"

"He defeated both me and Kanzaki."

"Well that is… wait what? He defeated both of you? You, Stiyl Magus, the Runic Fire Magician, and Kanzaki Kaori, Saint of the Church of England, were defeated by him? If so then Necessarius chose a good person to protect Index. I am relieved for Index's safety."

"No… Neither I or Kanzaki went all out. We only used a fraction of our powers as the would a lot of civilians would be caught in the crossfire, too much collateral damage and this being Academy City." Stiyl said in a proud tone.

Aureolus tensed up like he was afraid Stiyl had broken out his mind control, and Shirou was also prepared to assist Stiyl of that was the case. That was until Stiyl stopped speaking and showed no further independent actions.

"Sheesh…" Aureolus sighed. "This only worked because I caught him off guard and used a more complicated and powerful variant of magic trap then I would normally use against intruders. Stiyl is no ordinary magician, he is of the elite. It should be no surprise even when his magic resistance was overwhelmed that his strong willpower and training will resist my magic even after he was ensnared in it." Aureolus said lecturing himself. He turned to Shirou and asked, "who might you be?"

"Kuro." Shirou lied, maintaining the machine-like voice that a mind-controlled individual was expected to have.

"Kuro… what?"

"Just Kuro. Orphan."

"Ummm… that explains the lack of surname. It seems Stiyl had lied to me about his partner that came with him, claiming Shirou Emiya had tagged along." Aureolus deduced. "What is your abilities?"

"None."

"None, what do you mean by that?"

"Level 0 Esper. Have shown no psychic powers at all whatsoever."

"Aaaa. Level 0 that explains your lack of ability. You may as well just be an ordinary human. How did Stiyl can you involved in this."

"Hired as guide through intermediaries by Stiyl. Needed a local who could get him in/out and around Academy City without being detected."

"Makes sense. Academy City is the enemy territory for magicians. A local is the best guide that anyone can get." Aureolus nodded. "Stiyl and Kuro, forgot everything about your intrusion into my base. Return to where you were six hours ago."

"Of course, Master." Stiyl and Shirou said.

"Then go."

\- O -

Shirou Emiya sighed. It was a pain to pretend to have his memories erased and be mind-controlled. He continued to pretend being mind-controlled until he sensed that he was no longer being watched by Aureolus. At least, he got the opportunity to get out without arousing suspicion and collect crucial information pertaining to the mission.

" _Trace On_." Shirou chanted.

He materialized Rule Breaker in his hand and stabbed it against Stiyl, who was standing in a daze.

"Fuck!" Stiyl screamed as he felt something stab into his right. "What that necessary?" He asked as he clutched the bleeding that came from a minor wound.

Stiyl began to heal his minor wound with a basic healing spell.

"No, not really," said Shirou with a smirk. "That was for getting your memories erased and mind-controlled so easily."

"Ggaaarrr…" Stiyl growled. "I get it. I screwed up."

"I was wondering… What does Index mean to Aureolus Izzard?" Shirou inquired.

"Index is like a younger sister to Aureolus. He would rather kill himself then harm or betray Index… well that was if he was the same person from 3 years ago. He is very different from the man I once knew."

"What could've made him change?"

"Three years is a lot of time. Plenty of time for someone to change. He once worked for Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. He betrayed them and sought out information that he was supposed to. Since then he has gone into hiding; popping back on the radar and disappearing all over the world from time to time."

"So he was looking for information. From the fact that he betrayed two powerful organisations, the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church means that he most likely willingly use whatever means necessary to get his hand for the information he was looking. What sort of information was he looking for?"

"First, it was the type of information that was expecting with everyone that were once partners with Index. Healing and subjects related to the brain in attempt to find a cure to Index's 'erase her memory on an annual basis to keep her alive from her death by memory overload' condition."

"I know how this would end. Since what he found didn't work, he started chasing after the smallest leads. No matter how unlikely it is to work or absurd it is. Until the researcher crosses the grey line and dives into forbidden knowledge and research," said Shirou as he recalled how many mages of his former life had former had started with noble intentions to become ruthless and evil monster. "The fake Aureolus is very similar to the what the real one is likely to become. Someone that will sacrifice innocent lives and conduct unethical human experiments."

"Yea, that is likely right." Stiyl agreed as he recalled as how he and Kanzaki had explored every lead they had in trying to save Index from her 'erase memory or death' condition until Shirou had proven that it was a fabricated lie. "A lot of Index's former partners have delved into forbidden knowledge and research only to become monsters that lost sight of their true purpose. I think Kanzaki and I would've fallen like that if it wasn't for our missions to hunt down and eliminate many of Index's former partners that had become monsters. It reminded us what not to do."

Stiyl shivered as he recalled how close he and Kanzaki had come so close to passing that moral line by the temptation that everything had failed and nothing seemed to work to cure Index of her memory-erase-or-die condition.

Shirou gave a simple nod of understanding. He too had the same experience, though he was very more experienced with moral issue. As a Hero of Justice, he had dealt with the entire spectrum of human evil from petty thievery to eradication of entire human settlements. Unlike Stiyl, Shirou had gone into the deep end. Sometimes that only thing that got the monsters to talk was show them that he could reach their level and even surpass their ruthless and cruelty.

"I have a plan, a new one to deal with Aureolus Izzard, and I think you're not going to like it."

\- O -

Shirou expected to find people surrounding Misawa Cram School. What he had no expected was people to being face towards the building instead of facing outwards. He had thought Aureolus Izzard would establish a perimeter around the building as the first line of defense after Stiyl and he had infiltrated the building from the night before.

From a distance, he saw a few people, whose genders were indiscernible, donned in skin-tight silver armor. They matched the description of the Roman Catholic Church's Knights.

The knights raised their blades into the sky. Giving off a red glow, Shirou thought it looked like an antenna. Then the antenna was swung down.

" _Revelation 8:7_  
 _The first angel sounded his trumpet_  
 _There came hail and fire mixed with blood  
It was hurled down onto the earth_!"

A horn was heard from the glowing sword, a howling, echoing noise was heard through the night. The clouds floating in the night sky promptly scattered and from far away were lightning. An enormous pillar of light descended from the heavens. However, the pillar was red. Like thousands of flaming arrows moving in close proximity, the pillar was spear striking one of the four Misawa Cram buildings.

The red lotus pierced roof to basement, crushing the tower to half of its original height like a squashed aluminum can. The glass shattered and interior decorations flew about in chaos. However, there was more. The tower that was hit directly dragged the two neighboring towers by the overhead corridors, leaving the last unaffected tower like a tombstone.

The buildings were twisted, cracks formed along the walls and people fell through the gaps like dust being patted from pants. Numerous pieces of falling debris utterly devastated the surroundings like a meteor shower.

Shirou gritted his teeth at the thought of many students and teachers were still inside.

The dust began to scatter. The immense dust flew forward as if carried by a strong wind… to the wreckage called Misawa Cram School. Dust was just part of it. The previously falling rubble began to float in midair and the crumbling walls flipped erect. The debris moved together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and completely reformed the smooth towers that looked freshly renovated.

It was like watching a show in rewind. The collapsed towers were upright and the falling people were reabsorbed through the cracks. Most of the damage was repaired and soon, all four Misawa Cram towers were reformed as if nothing had happened. Even the neighboring buildings crushed by rubble reverted to what they were prior.

Reverting things back to normal. Shirou looked up at the sky. The red lotus Divine spear that was fired from the sky had reappeared. It travelled backwards as if time was reversed and disappeared.

The three knights dropped down in exhaustion and began to pant.

"That isn't going to be enough. If force was going to be used in destroying the building then there is two ways to overcome the Bounded Field's time reversal. One is to destroy everything in once to overload the Bounded Field. The other is either gradually increasing the force used or keep a constant pressure to cause the Bounded Field to buckle and collapse," muttered Shirou. "And I have something that is perfect for the job and pin the blame upon the Church of England."

Shirou jumped off the ground and kept jumping off roofs and anything that he could use as a foothold until he reached a good vintage point.

He had planned to use prod the cram school's Bounded Field with his weaker arsenal of Noble Phantasm and save his trump card for later, but it seemed like the trump card was best option to deal with Aureolus Izzard from the fact that the knight's destructive magic ritual had failed.

 _Trace On_.

He summoned the Black Bow. It was such a dull name just to reflect its appearance, but Shirou was not the type to care to much about naming his creations. He left the naming of his most creations to others. While it did not have a remarkable name, it was a great piece of work. A bow made from advanced material that even Academy City, that was said to be 2 to 3 decades ahead of the world, had no discovered. A gigantic two meter bow that was able to shoot projectiles that were more along the lines of swords. It was robust to withstand the force exerted upon it to fire objects that could nearly reach the speed MACH 10.

Shirou pulled back on the drawstring.

A sword appeared in his right hand that also held the drawstring. It was no ordinary sword as its appearance was that of a majestic sword, well at the handle and the pommel of the sword at least. It blended gold, white and blue in a soothing pattern. A sword fit for a king, had it not been for its bizzare shape of the sword's blade. A screw. That was the shape the blade took. A gigantic corkscrew blade. This was the Caladbolg, blade of Fergus mac Róich, an Irish hero from the Celtic mythology's Ulster Cycle. A blade of Irish origin, that was part of the United Kingdom, that could easily be blamed upon the Church of England.

In its current form, Calabolg could easily destroy a small sized army in one go. Leaving nothing to what was the enemy if used. Something that could was likely to be able to destroy the target in one go. That wasn't what Shirou wanted. He wanted a hundred percent sure that his target would be eliminated in one go and there was no chance for the time reversal to occur like it had done so with the knights.

Caladbolg became smaller and more compact. What was once a blade that was as wide and thick as an arm was reduced to the width and thickness of a finger. It was something that could be recognized as an arrow by its shape, but its appearance was very different from normal arrows. There was no fletching. Simply, there was no need for fletching to make it more aerodynamic as the altered sword still maintained its cockscrew appearance. No arrow could compare to how aerodynamic Caladbolg had become as the entire arrow had spiral groves that ran through the entire thing.

The blade was ready. It was no longer just a Noble Phantasm, a legendary weapon that was a crystallization of a myth. Now, it was a Broken Phantasm. A weapon that was stronger than its original self, but would explode upon use.

" _Twist my core, Caladbolg!_ " Shirou chanted as he released.

It hit the cram school faster than even a heartbeat or blink. No, in fact faster so fast that it would register in units of time significantly shorter than a second. At a distance of two hundred meters, the object travelled at a speed of MACH 10.

When it hit, it was like nothing that any observer would've likely witnessed in their life.

The force behind the Calabolg was MACH 10, nearly the speed in which object like space rockets needed to go into space. The force transferred behind it was unbelievable. It was like glass being shattered. The entire building, everything that made the building, simply shattered into pieces.

Unlike before when the knights had used a wide-scale magic ritual to call down a huge blast of magical energy, the building failed to recover immediately for several seconds before it began to remake itself. That was until a back up plan of Shirou's kicked in.

Calabolg exploded. It was like the world's most powerful non-nuclear explosion had occurred. The explosion was powerful enough to replicate the mushroom cloud that formed after a nuclear explosion without an actual nuclear reaction taking place. That building that was about to repair itself, been turned into pieces, was effectively blasted to smaller bits. Bits ranging from a grain of sand to even smaller. The fragments were sent flying with the wind of the explosion.

"Target eliminated. I need confirmation."

Deep Blood had to have been eliminated, therefore removing the chance of any True Ancestor being attracted to Academy City. It saddened him that students and staff potentially numbering up a thousand was dead, but 2.3 millions soul that made up Academy City had been saved with his actions. A True Ancestor was that powerful and when they had Gaia's assistance through Counter Force, it took a miracle to kill them.

"This is Stiyl, I see no survivors."

"Kaznaki here, I confirm. No survivors."

He prayed forgiveness for the sacrifice that had been made.

"Commerce saturation bombing. We leave nothing to chance."

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

 **Follow and Favorite. I am encouraged to write by the number of Follows and Favourites so please tag this story!**

 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


	9. Railgun

**Chapter Nine "Railgun"**

Shirou Emiya sighed. As he ran through back alleys late at night, he glanced over his shoulder. There were eight of them. Eight hooligans were chasing him after he had stepped in when he had seen them harass a schoolgirl.

"Let see if they can catch me." Shirou said as dashed forward in a sprint.

"Shit!"

"What the hell?"

"How fast is he?"

The hooligans cursed as they attempted to chase after a now quickly disappearing Shirou Emiya at speed that rivalled the very best of sprinters.

Shirou dashed into a back alley and into the moonlit street. He quickly lost the hooligans with his sheer speed.

He could've have easily fought the eight hooligans and come out unscathed, but that would've created more problems than running away. Taking them all out without causing any injuries was an easy feat. It was if someone called the police that would be the problem. Even if he explained that he was defending himself, the police would still interrogate him and try to get down to the bottom of everything. Time that he didn't want being wasted on. And there was no reason for him to harm the hooligans in the first place. They had no harmed anyone and he had stopped them from harassing the girl in the first place.

Shirou glanced back to find that the coast was clear. Then he took a leisurely walk. He exited the urban area and came to a large river. A large metal bridge spanned the river, about 150 meters across, and no cars could be seen on it. Not lit up, the plain metal bridge was wrapped in an eerie darkness much like a midnight sea.

"Really now, what are you doing? Do you think protecting me those delinquents makes you a good person? Are you some overzealous teacher?"

Shirou looked at the newcomer.

Because the bridge had no lights, Shirou had not noticed the girl standing about 5 meters ahead in the direction he had been running, a completely normal middle school girl wearing a gray pleated skirt, a short-sleeved blouse, and a summer sweater. The girl before him was the same one from the family restaurant.

"Why are you here?" Shirou asked.

"I came to help my wannabe hero. I roasted those hooligans that chased after you." The girl said.

The zapping sound of bluish-white sparks echoed. Rather than a stun gun, as her shoulder-length brown hair swayed, sparks flew from it like an electrode. The moment a convenience store bag in the wind passed by her head, it was blown away by bluish-white sparks reminiscent of an interception device.

"Thanks for dealing with them." Shirou said thankfully. "I just hope none of them were hurt."

"You know they would've hurt you, right? They deserved what I did to them."

"They might've had the intention to hurt me, but I can protect myself."

"Oh, ya? Why did you run then?"

"Running was a good option. No one had to get hurt. I was sure that I could escape them."

"You are right. You did escape them. They were nowhere near your speed. So, you would've escaped them eventually if I hadn't dealt with them."

"Well, I will say it again. Thank you for your help. Now if you excuse me, I will take my leave."

"Wait!"

"Yes?" Shirou said as he turned around.

"Fight me!"

"…"

"I want to see how strong you are if you are so sure that you could've taken on the hooligans."

"I don't fight without a perfectly good reason. Something as trivial as testing one's strength." Shirou said in a disapproving tone.

"If you don't want a fight then I will force you too. I want to know how strong you are that badly if you are so sure that you could've taken on the hooligans."

"…Fine." Shirou sighed as he looked into the girl's eyes to see that she wasn't going to back down. "You must be an Esper from that electricity. My name is Shirou Emiya, Level 0."

"Zero, you say," repeated the girl as if she was turning it over in her mouth. She stuck a hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out an arcade coin. "Have you ever heard the term Railgun?"

"Which one? The experimental weapon system or the individual?" Shirou inquired.

The girl flicked the coin up into the air with her thumb. The coin rotated a few times before landing back onto her thumb. An orange spear of light suddenly and silently shot past Shirou's head. It was more like a laser than a spear. He could only tell it had originated from the girl's thumb because the afterimage of light stretched back to it. Almost like thunder, the noise rumbled in with a slight delay. As a shockwave tore through the air around his ears.

He glanced over his shoulder and calmly assessed what he saw.

The instant the orange light struck the road surface on the bridge, the asphalt was blown away like an airplane making an emergency landing on the ocean. Even after travelling a 30 meter path of utter destruction and stopping, the orange afterglow was still burning the air like an afterimage.

"Even a coin like this can be quite powerful when it's fired at three times the speed of sound. Of course, the coin melts after 50 meters because of air friction."

That bridge made of steel and concrete swayed like an unreliable suspension bridge. Failing metal bolts could be heard occasionally.

"Damn you. Don't tell me you used that to drive them away?!" Shirou said in alarm as anyone hit by something like that was definitely dead, it was a bullet on steroids.

"Don't be stupid. I match my methods to my opponent. I don't want to accidentally become a murderer." As she spoke, sparks flew from the girl's brown hair like an electrode. "This was enough for those Level 0s!"

Bluish-white sparks flew from the girl's bangs like a horn and a spear-like line of lightning flew towards Shirou. Shirou Emiya smirked.

An explosive noise followed after a slight delay.

His face was struck by the lightning spear struck it. It rampaged through Shirou's body and sparks scattered in every direction and into the bridge's steel framework.

"How are you completely unhurt?" The girl demanded, baring her canines as she glared at Shirou.

The high voltage current that had scattered into the surroundings had been powerful enough to burn the steel framework of the bridge, yet, he had not a single burn for the electricity.

"Let see if this works."

He received a more lightning that shot from her forehead, well over Mach 1 at that. However, it scattered in every direction the instant it hit Shirou. It was very much like a water balloon bursting.

Magic Resistance. The ability to resist magic, or in this case Esper powers. His Magic Resistance was on the level that it could resist magic spells that normally needed one line incantation. It would take magic or Esper power several times more powerful than the one that the girl had used to have any chance of affecting him.

"How are you Level 0? Your powers negated something along the lines of Level 1 attack."

"It's because I have no control over it. It is always like this." Shirou lied, going with what the girl thought was his Esper power and what was officially listed file as his Esper power.

"Well you are clearly lying to me if you said you were Level 0. No Esper power that could negate my electricity that easily, even if it was my weaker attacks, Let see if you survive this!"

In the end, Shirou ran because the girl kept of trying to figure out the full extent of the protection that Magic Resistance that provided him against her electricity, but there was no way he was going to let something as important as that be revealed. And there was no point for him to stick around when he tried to he failed to talk down the girl. He never fought without a good reason.

That was how he first met and made friends with the Level 5 "Railgun" Mikoto Misaka.

\- O -

Shirou was had been walking home alone. Then he got thirsty. He stood motionlessly in front of a lone juice vending machine that stood along a path with a annoyed expression. He had inserted a 2,000-yen bill into the vending machine. For a machine to take from him such a large amount of money and not respond.

Academy City had high standards well it came to machinery. It was twenty to thirty years ahead in science and technology then the rest of the world. That also reflected itself in machinery such as vending machines with software and hardware that should have higher standards then machinery outside of Academy City.

He was solely attempted to use magecraft for a petty reason and that was to retrieve his 2000-yen bill and take a soft drink of his choice as reparation for wasting his time. That plan was being reconsidered until he heard footsteps of a pair of loafers from behind him.

"Hold it… Don't stand so idiotically in front of the vending machine. If you're not buying anything, then get out of the way, move it. I need to rehydrate or else I won't be able to function anymore."

Just as Shirou heard the sudden voice from behind him, he was gently pushed aside by a girl's soft hand on his arm.

Living in a city full of students, that would probably happen now and then, but even so the unlikely contact surprised Shirou.

When Shirou turned his head around, he saw a middle school girl. She had shoulder-length light-brown hair, good looks that didn't need make-up, a short-sleeved white blouse with a summer sweater, a gray pleated skirt. He was surprised to see that the girl was Mikoto Misaka.

"…Then, who are you, girl?" Shirou asked, feigning ignorance of the girl's identity.

"It's me, my name's Misaka Mikoto! Try to remember, you total blockhead!" The instant the girl shouted, she unleashed a pale spark from her light-brown bangs.

"Biri-Biri?" Shirou named her with a new nickname that was the Japanese onomatopoeia imitating the sound of electricity.

A pale lightning bolt jumped out from the girl's forehead, and quickly rushed at Shirou.

Shirou stood there with a trumpihet look as lightning bolt disspated against him thanks to his magic resistance.

The scowling middle school girl looked like she wanted to kill him, as if the fact that he was not shocked by electricity was reason enough to warrant such actions.

"Move aside if you have no use for the machine," said Mikoto, her hand on her hip.

"That vending machine somehow keeps on eating bills."

"I know that already," Mikoto replied.

"You know it eats bills, yet you're still gonna pay? Is that machine an offertory box or something?"

"You're such an idiot. There's a trick for this machine, an underhanded one that will have it spit out juice for free."

"…"

"Legendary amongst Tokiwadai Middle School students, a granny-like oblique kick at a 45-degree angle will restart any malfunctioning machine!" With that yell, she sent a skirt-level kick into the side of the machine.

The kick smashed into the vending machine with such force that it created a loud bang. A painful clatter of something falling reverberated inside the machine, and then a can popped out.

"You know, since it's worn down, the springs holding the juices have loosened. You can't choose which juice comes out, though –" Misaka paused when she saw the weird stare that Shirou was directing at her. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Nothing," Shirou monotoned.

Shirou was kind of annoyed. He was a hot-blooded male in his high school years. Even if he wasn't a pervert, he had a certain expectation of what a girl would wear under their skirts. He had seen everything from plain, white cotton panties to bold g-strings. What he saw was underneath her skirt were gym shorts. He felt that some of his dreams had just been destroyed.

"This Tokiwadai legend, does every young lady from Tokiwadai do it?"

"Most of the girls can't do that! Most girls wouldn't even dream of doing it…"

"…" Shirou thought. "That's not what I mean! I'm asking if you brats have been joining forces daily to destroy vending machines with that technique!"

"It's fine, isn't it!? What are you angry for? We didn't directly harm you, did we?"

"…"

"Eh? Oh, speaking of which, you look like you keep losing money against this machine—" Stopping midway, Mikoto went silent. "…By any chance, did you already buy something?"

"…"

"Hey, did you drink something? Did you really get something? Hey, answer truthfully, or I'll shake you down; is it that you're dumbfounded because you've been robbed blind by this vending machine?"

"…And if I answer that question?"

"Of course, I'd send a cell phone pic of your stupid face to the entire world–" Shirou gave Mikoto a death glare. "I'm kidding! Just kidding! Don't drag your feet like that, you look really scary!"

Shirou sighed, he was annoyed because of two reasons. One, he could no longer get his cash back and get a can by using his magecraft without arousing suspicion. Two, Mikoto was responsible for damaging public property and other people after her would unlikely able to use the vending machine if she broke it.

He drooped his shoulders and turned away from Mikoto. While looking at Shirou's slouched back, Mikoto gave off a disinterested sigh with her hands on her hips.

"You, hold it! Tell me, how much money did you put in it?"

Something told Shirou that if he told her, she would laugh at him. So he kept his mouth shout.

Mikoto took on a more serious look for a bit, as if she felt a sense of responsibility for losing him the money.

"I won't laugh, I promise. While you're at it, I'll take back your lost money!"

He resisted the urge to lecture Mikoto on damaging public property and how she would cause inconviences in the future for others if the vending machine had been broken.

"...2,000 yen."

"2,000 yen? You put in so much?" Mikoto asked. "Wait, '2,000 yen'? Did you mean a 2,000-yen bill? Wow, I wanna see, I really wanna see it! A not-yet-destroyed 2,000-yen bill! Heheheh, ahahahahahahaha! So that's the vending machine's bug! Not even convenience stores accept 2,000-yen bills anymore, hahahahahahaha!"

"I knew I shouldn't have said that." Shirou sighed in a troubled tone.

"Hohoh. Well, then, let's hope that it'll spit that 2,000-yen bill back out. I won't accept it if this piece of junk spits out two 1,000-yen bills." While standing in front of the vending machine, Mikoto slowly placed her right palm over the coin slot. "Hey, you, how are you going to get the money back from this machine?"

"'How', you say?" Shirou asked curiously, then suddenly he got another bad feeling.

Mikoto gave him a blank look, and then said, "Like this..."

A pale lightning-like spark jumped from her right palm and instantly struck the vending machine.

The heavy vending machine shook from side to side like a sumo wrestler. Black smoke from the machine's inner workings billowed out through the seams like those clouds of smoke seen in manga.

"Huh…? That's strange, I didn't want to strike it that hard. Ah, lots of juice cans came out somehow. Hey, your 2,000-yen bill didn't come out, but at least 2,000 yen's worth of juice came out; is this okay-?" Mikoto paled. "Hey, why are you on your phone!? Oi!"

Shirou was already on his phone, scrolling down his contact list that he had saved when he needed to call for emgerencies.

"Should I call Judgement or Anti-Skill? One is a volunteer student law enforcement organization while one is the professional law enforcement." Shirou debated.

"Don't call either of them, please report me!" Mikoto said in panicking voice.

"Judgement it is," Shirou decided as he plug at his selection.

"No–!" Mikoto protested, loudly, but was soon drowned out by a voice that picked up on Shirou's call.

"This is Judgement. What is purpose of this call?" A very familiar voice that Shirou couldn't put his finger on spoke.

"I would like to report someone destroying public property," replied Shirou, who's voice was nearly drowned out by Mikoto's protesting.

"Where are you? When this happening?"

"I am in Park # 177. The crime happened moments before I called."

"I happen to be in the area. I see several people on their phones. Can you please start waving so I see where you are." Shirou started waving his hand as instructed. "I see you. I also see a girl trying to tear your phone from you. Is she the perpetrator?"

"Yes," Shirou nodded as he fought to keep his grip on his phone from the panicking Mikoto.

Shirou heard something moving into the air, and he recognized the sound. He quickly dodged at the last second to get a good look at where he was getting shot from. The direction of the shots came from less than a hundred meters away from him at an angle coming at a downwards manner. That meant his attacker was shooting very a vintage point.

"What is this?!" Mikoto screamed.

He turned to see that Mikoto was not as lucky as him. Thankfully, Mikoto was unhurt but the same couldn't be said about her clothes. She was pinned down to the ground with several arrows imbedding her clothes to the ground.

"Why would Judgement–?" Shirou asked in bafflement before he was cut off.

"SHIROU EMIYA?!" A very familiar voice, and the same one from the phone call earlier, screamed.

"Grk-!" Shirou grunted as he smashed into the ground, courtesy of a double kick to his back.

"GIVE THEM BACK!" The familiar voice demanded as Shirou was grabbed by the collar and being violently shaken.

"Give what back-?" Shirou asked curiousily before he was cut off mid-sentence. "Rin Tohsaka?" He asked in shock as he stared.

"Who else would it be?!" The girl, who Shirou knew better than any other, snapped as she continued to throttle him.

"Give what back?"

"MY MAGIC CIRCUITS, BAKA!"

Mikoto Misaka stared at the scene before her in bewilderment. She had been pinned to the ground by arrows thanks to her clothes, and how been in a state of shock until she had finally recovered. Now she was seeing a very familiar individual throttling someone and acting nowhere like the person she had known.

"Konori-senpai? What are you doing here?" Mikoto asked, identifying the Judgement Chief of Branch 177, Mii Konori.

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

 **Follow and Favorite. I am encouraged to write by the number of Follows and Favourites so please tag this story!**

 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


	10. Rin and Misaka Sisters

**Chapter Ten "Rin and Misaka Sisters"**

Mii Konori, known by the name Rin Tohsaka in her past life, had been on her routine patrol. Never had she dreamed about meeting Shirou Emiya again after her death, certainly not in another life. Whether or not, the boy she had known in her past life, went by the name "Shirou Emiya" or another name like she did as Mii Konori in her new life, was not important. What was important was that she finally got her hands on bastard that had stolen the most important aspect of herself and that was her Magic Circuits. Well the Incident hadn't been caused by him, that still didn't change the fact that he had taken most precious thing that defined her as Mage.

She wanted to keep throttling Shirou when Mikoto Misaka stared at how weirdly.

"I will deal with you, later." Mii Konori muttered as she let go of Shirou's collar. "I'm sorry," Mii bowed her head. "I didn't know it was you, Misaka-san."

"You seem to know each other. How so?" Mikoto asked.

"He/She is my husband/wife." Mii and Shirou said at the same time, thanks to years of responding to the same question as a habit.

"Wait… WHAT?! How are you married already?! Isn't the normal Japanese legal age to marriage twenty? In the case of one partner being younger then twenty, they need their parental approval. I thought either of you were between the ages of sixteen and eighteen." Mikoto asked, listing the legal Japanese laws surrounding marriage.

"No, you're absolutely right! We have been dating each other for a while. It's just we want to take out relationship to new heights. Isn't that so, Rin." Shirou quickly replied.

"Is this the time to worry about that…?" Rin asked darkly as she sent a death glare to Shirou and emitted a sinister aura.

"Konori-senpai! Did you catch the criminal?"

"Kuroko!" Mikoto shouted. "What are you doing here?"

"Onee-sama!" The newcomer shouted as she threw herself at Mikoto.

Shirou winced when he saw a surge of electricity that appeared and surrounded Mikoto before the newcomer was anyway close to Mikoto. The result upon contact was a shock. The newcomer was twitching on the floor letting out a laugh like she was a masochist being punished by her favourite sadist.

"To answer your question, Kuroko-san. Yes, I caught the criminal, but it seems it is another case of Misaka-san, abusing her ability to get free drinks." Rin replied.

"Heeeeeheeeeee…" Mikoto let out an unconformable laugh.

"Well, if it was Onee-sama, it doesn't really matter." The girl, named Kuroko, said.

 _Are you serious? This girl caused damage to public property. She should be punished._ Shirou thought.

"Don't worry, Shirou. She cannot be punished if the public property in question is fixed." Rin spoke as she made her way towards the damaged vending machine and placed her hand upon it. " _Trace On_."

He watched in interest. Shirou wanted to know how much progress that Rin had made since The Incident that had led caused a majority of Rin's and his Magic Circuits to exchanged between each other. The incident had caused a sharp increase in his potential as a mage thanks to receiving many of Rin's Magic Circuits that made her to be an Average One. The benefits that he got was a pitfall for Rin. She as a mage, had been crippled by his own Magic Circuits that Rin now possessed.

Shirou used Structural Analysis with his eyes to see what Rin was doing. To his amazement, Rin fixed the machine by applying Alteration. There was a no alchemy to transmute new material. She fixed everything, she repaired it so it was good as new. It seemed that she had made good headway in what she had once been extremely limited too.

"There good as new." Rin said as she dusted herself off.

"Your psychic powers, Alteration, is so useful, Konori-senpai." Kuroko said in amazement.

"Wait, your Esper power is called Alteration?" Shirou asked then he began to grabbed his ribs and laughed.

"Shirou, don't laugh at me when this was your fault!" Rin shouted before sending her signature and favored magic spell, Gandr, balls of black curses at him.

The curses missed him as Shirou dodged, but he dodged half-heartedly, as Rin was just trying to vent her anger and show how displeased she was then actually attempt to hurt him. If she did, then she would be firing Gandr shots at a pace of a machine gun, and each of the missed Gandr shots would've hit with the force of bullet, instead of making harmless explosions of sound.

"This is Kuroko," Kuroko said as she opened her phone to receive a call. "Oh it's you, Uiharu. Is there something you need? Another crime? We will be right there."

"You handle this one, Kuroko. I have him to deal with."

"What did you say? Uiharu? The bank robbery has escalated?" Kuroko asked as she talked on the phone. "Konori-senpai, he is going to have to wait. We have to go now."

"You can…" Rin was saying before she was cut off. Kuroko grabbed her and materialized several meters away. "You better come to the Judgement Office Branch 177, Shirou! You hear me! If you don't then I will use Judgement's database to locate where you live and hunt you down, you hear me!" She continued to shout as she disappeared and rematerialized further and further away, her voice being lost in the distance.

"Sheesh. I have never seen Konori-senpai so angry before. How much did you piss her off?" Mikoto asked.

"You don't want to know." Shirou responded.

\- O -

"Why did you drag me along, Kuroko…? I missed my chance to talk to Shirou. He was owed a good scolding." Rin lamented at her missed opportunity.

"You make it sound like you haven't seen him in a long time." Kuroko replied.

 _Oh you have no idea,_ thought Rin. "You can handle the bank robbery by yourself. You don't need me there."

"Konori-senpai, are you serious? YOU were the one that lectured me never to go it alone if whenever I can. Are you taking your advice back now?" Kuroko said in an exasperated tone.

"I… you know you're right…" Rin sighed. "Sorry. I just wanted to talk to Shirou really, really badly. I haven't seen him in a long time. That's why, and we have a lot to talk about."

"I accept your apology." Kuroko said. "Now tell me. How is he? Is he really good in bed?"

"W-what?!" Rin spluttered in shock. "H-how c-can you s-say so-something like that!"

"Well, he and you are high-schoolers. The age where sex is pretty common from what I know."

"Y-you! N-need to be… You should be embarrassed. You're in middle school. Sex is the last thing you should be talking about!"

"Konori-senpai. While its rare, middle-schoolers do have sex. It's that age where people start getting curious about it." Kuroko said in a deadpan voice. "So how is he?"

"Well…" Rin began to flush red when she recalled how pleasurable it was too… "That is something only for me to know."

"So he is good." Kuroko smiled as she saw Rin's flush. "What else is he good at? Likes and dislikes? Hobbies?" She prodded for information.

"Ha… I'm not going to get out of this without answering, am I right?" Rin asked, which Kuroko responded with a furious nodding and burning eyes that demanded for answers. "Heroes. He likes heroes. Dislikes villians. Hobby. Being a hero."

"Hero? Is that a hobby? Acting like a hero?" Kuroko asked in a slightly unconvinced tone. "Isn't he too old for that?" Kuroko suddenly remembered that a certain someone that loved anything related to childish things, especially Gekota merchandise. "Then again, no one is too old for anything."

"Well, he doesn't pretend to be a hero. He is a hero. To back him up, he has the skills and experience to be a hero. Actually… when I think about it, I'm surprised I haven't heard or seen him being people out in times of need. Then again… He knows that keeping his identity a secret is important too…"

"He sounds like someone that would fit right into Judgement." Kuroko commented with approval.

"No. No way! He might have the ideals and motives likes so many others that joined Judgement, but he wouldn't not. He hates limitations and actively flaunts disregard for regulations and laws if it impeded him. Shirou would do anything to save someone. He isn't hesitant to act." Rin said without much regard.

"You make him sound like a criminal."

"No, he is no criminal. Sometimes people might perceive him as a villain, but he has noble intentions. It is more accurate to describe him as an anti-hero."

Rin paused. She began to internally scream at herself. Too caught up with the conversation, she had forgotten that she had spilled the beans on details about Shirou that she hadn't originally intended to tell others. What she had intended to do was keep quiet, or at least talk about details that she had no problems giving out.

 _Well I didn't reveal anything important, but still. I painted Shirou in a light that I didn't wanted to tell Kuroko,_ thought Rin in dismay. "What do you think of him after what I told you?"

"He sounds someone like me…" Kuroko admitted. "I know from the scolding and lecturing you have me when I cause an incident with my Judgement duties to the paperwork I need to fill out that I only act without paying much attention to collateral damage."

"Ya, that parts seem right." Rin agreed, remembering the countless incidents that Kuroko was referring to. "You meant actually get along with him." She said thinking about the same ideals they shared, justice. "Remind me to recruit him into Judgement. He might dislike the regulation that comes with not being a vigiliant, but he has the skills and experience to make a difference. We need more people like him in Judgement."

"Will do, Konori-senpai." Kuroko said. "We are here." She announced as she materialized with Rin at their destination. "Are you ready, Konori-senpai?"

Rin nodded.

"Hold it right there! Judgement!"

\- O -

Mikoto sighed as she sat down beside Shirou. She looked peacefully at the wind turbines turning round and round nearby.

"I want to ask why, Konori-senpai is so angry at you, but that is none of my business to pry into your relationship with her," said Mikoto. "How are you a Level 0? Level 0 is reserved for those who have taken part of the Power Curriculum Program, but have still yet to unlock their psychic powers. You definitely have a psychic power if you were able to negate my electricity so easily. Of course, I never used anything close to my full strength, but you should be a Level 2."

Shirou Emiya paused to think. What should he say? That he was technically a Level 6. The pinnacle of what Academy City was seeking. The one that already had a what Espers called an Personal Reality, formed and it was a Reality Marble called Unlimited Blade Works. He had fooled Academy City's System Scans.

He smirked. There was no need to lie.

"It's the System Scans' problem. They say I am a Level 0. End of story."

"That makes no sense. Have you told the testers that there is a problem?"

"Do you want me to say. 'Hey, I fought, Railgun, several times and each time come out unscathed.' Who would be the one that suffer if I said that to them?" Shirou asked.

"How could I completely forget…" Mikoto groaned as she slapped her forehead. "I could imagine how people would react. They would say something like, 'Really? The Level 5 # 3 Railgun, Mikoto Misaka, was defeated by someone Level 0?!' I would be so embarrassed if random strangers and even my fellow students at my school kept staring and said that."

"Onee-sama?" A voice that was exactly the same as Mikoto said from behind, but that couldn't be right as Mikoto was standing right next to Shirou. Not behind him.

Mikoto's face looked as if she had been hit from behind with ice.

Shirou turned around to see another Mikoto Misaka standing behind him. From what he could tell, the girl behind him looked no different from "Mikoto Misaka". Shoulder-length light-brown hair, good looks and features, a white short-sleeved blouse, a summer sweater, and a pleated skirt. From features and uniform to accessories, there could be no doubt about it: "Mikoto Misaka" was standing there.

The confused Shirou Emiya returned his gaze to the girl sitting beside him. Shoulder-length light-brown hair, good looks and features, a white short-sleeved blouse, a summer sweater, and a pleated skirt. While not unexpected, he was looking at a seated "Mikoto Misaka."

There were differences, though. The girl standing behind the bench had what looked like night-vision goggles on her forehead like unused swimming goggles, and her eyes seemed emotionless. Her unfocused gaze fixedly followed the back of the seated Mikoto's head.

Shirou frowned. He did not recall there being a twin. Mikoto Misaka was a well-known and somewhat of a celebrity in Academy City. She was the one of only seven individuals that were ranked Level 5 out of hundreds of thousands of espers that made up the population of Academy City. Then he remembered a rumor that had been going around. Something about clones of Railgun for military purposes. Then again he could be making too many assumptions as Mikoto might actually have a twin that he had not heard about or spoken in the rumor mill.

He looked back and forth between the two "Mikoto Misaka"s. Compared to the also surprised face of the one sitting beside him, the one standing behind the bench was staring back expressionlessly.

"So," murmured Shirou as he looked back, "who might you be?"

"Imouto," said the Mikoto look-alike.

"…" Shirou stared at the new girl, but he received no answer. "It seems very obvious. What I mean is your name."

"Misaka-10031."

That made Shirou stiffen up. He suddenly recalled some of the past incidents that he had dealing with homunculi, especially clones of mages that conducted human unethical and illegal experiments. The name was used for who the clone's DNA originated from and serial number was how many clones had been made. That meant 10,031 clones had come before the girl before her, and god knows how many after her. Shirou wanted to interrogate the clone right then and there, but that was a foolish idea. He had encountered enough clones to know that making them talk was difficult and sometimes impossible thanks to them not talking or some sort of self-destruct mechanism. No, it would take less time and effort if he followed and observed the clone.

"I, I see, Imouto. But you two sure look identical—identical as in same height and weight, right?" Shirou asked, pretending to be ignorant.

Mikoto kept glaring at clone.

"Our genetic makeup is the same. Moreover, inquiring about a girl's body weight is rude."

Mikoto was still glaring at clone.

"…"

"Then I guess you must be twins. Hmmm, it's the first time I've seen identical twins, but you two really do look identical. Well, what are you going to do, Futago-chan? Return to Nee-chan?"

Mikoto had been continuously glaring at clone for some time.

"How overly naive of this shallow rascal, so Misaka will answer your question so that you may catch on. Misaka came to see and confirm the one with the same power detected within a 600-meter radius of Misaka…"

Shirou wondered if Mikoto was in the loop. That she was looking at a clone of her, not some doppelganger.

"...And in this place, I find a destroyed vending machine. I never would have thought Onee-sama would take part in petty thievery" Mikoto-clone continued while standing at attention. "Just what method will make Onee-sama change her ways?"

Because of the strange accusal, Shirou had no choice but to continue.

"Hey, she's the culprit, and I'm only an eyewitness, you know."

"Lies only prove crime. From the measurement results of the outcome made on the front of the vending machine by the electric shock, it is established that the more recent fingerprints belong to you, as Mikoto would thrust the evidence at you."

 _She is definitely in the loop,_ Shirou thought as Mikoto had only stared at the clone while he and the clone had been talking for several minutes.

Shirou casually turned to the Mikoto sitting beside him. Then Mikoto stood up.

"…You! Just why are you loitering around here?!" Mikoto demanded in explosive anger. She then resumed her silence.

Within that state, as Mikoto-clone stood at attention and looked absently at Mikoto's eyes,

"One question or the other… training, as Mikoto would briefly answer."

"Training."

Mikoto cut her breath short as if she were struck from behind, and turned her eyes away. She murmured something, but it didn't reach Shirou's ears.

"If it's training, is Misaka-san entering Judgment?"

Mikoto clapped her hands in front of her and averted her eyes from Shirou.

"Ah, aaah, Judgment? Ah — ah — that, that. You've been doing this because of that, lots of problems, eh, the lot of them—or, should I say, worn out?" She said in a lovely, yet suspicious tone of voice.

"Hey. Somehow, you're talking as if you're suddenly dismissing information like it's only from a crank call." Shirou said, pretending to play his part as being ignorant.

"Heh, I'm not dismissing it; I'm merely stating it clearly, properly, exactly." Mikoto then looked at her own clone. "We've got lots of talking to do, lots of it. Hey, Imouto, can you come with me for a bit?"

"Ha? No, even Misaka has a schedule to stick to and—"

"Enough already." Mikoto looked at clone dead-on. "Get over here." She said to the clone. Then she turned to look at Shirou. "Well, then, we're going this way. You have to mind your dorm curfew, too, you know!"

Mikoto left a sitting Shirou behind and wrapped her arms around her clone's shoulder. The two ordinary-looking girls then began to walk onward down the wide avenue lane.

"Let's see what happens." Shirou muttered as he followed them.

\- O -

The wind blew powerfully. Dusk had set in while a lone girl, sprawled on the roof of a building to conceal her body, squinted slightly. She was equipped with a rifle that was ridiculously large for her size, a length of 184 centimeters that easily surpassed her height.

The Metal Eater MX. It was a Barrett M82A1 anti-tank rifle that was legendary for having destroyed a tank from 2,000 meters away during the Gulf War. Production models lacked fully automatic firing because of the excessively powerful recoil, but the gun she held was a prototype model that retained the rapid-fire setting.

Though it was a brutal rifle capable of crushing a cheap helmet into pieces with simply the recoil, the slender girl seemed accustomed to wielding it. For someone with her physique it was impossible to forcibly suppress the recoil so the kickback had to be forcibly diverted into the ground. But rather than years or practice, the girls simply had fourteen days of data inputted via the training equipment known as Testament. Upon completion, she had learned the Metal Eater's recoil strength and had derived the calculations necessary to compensate the recoil with optimum efficiency.

Silencing her breathing, the girl gazed at her 600-meter away "target" through the cold scope.

Insects gathered underneath a convenience store light while a fifteen or sixteen year old boy walked out onto the street. His physique was thin and wiry and his hair as white as the girl's delicate skin. He looked like he would snap if a person grabbed him.

However, he would have been better described as the sharp point of a knife. Each and every one of the boy's official battles recorded in the databases was a victory. Even more, he had never been hurt, never defended himself, and never evaded—not a single time. The boy was like a thin and fragile but highly polished saber designed exclusively for offense without a consideration for defense.

Although the girl knew not her target's true name, his code name was Accelerator. Within Academy City, there were only seven individuals ranked Level 5 and, even within that list, the boy's name stood at the very top.

"The crosswinds are strong… Correcting alignment three clicks to the left." The girl muttered under her breath while she turned a screw on the side of the rifle's scope.

The girl's target was the boy swinging his convenience store bag with boredom on his way home. She was surely unable to defeat him by opposing him head on—no one could possibly have defeated Accelerator without an underhanded method.

If head on were impossible, she would not do so. For espers, using their abilities was like moving their limbs. Aside from Level 0s that lacked any significant power, the structures of powers were roughly classified into two categories: active and passive. Active powers were abilities that the users deliberately controlled while passive ones activated reflexively as the user sensed danger. Thus, if a surprise attack connected before the enemy noticed he was in danger, any sort of ability user was defeated.

"Wind eddies... vortices from three directions. Correcting alignment one click to the right." the girl muttered quietly as she further fine-tuned the scope.

Without corrections, the lead bullets would have swerved off target by unexpected winds. Furthermore, considering the city was plagued with buildings, the wind did not per say blow in one direction. Wind eddies, flowing from various directions, collided together and formed vortices dispersing wind in every direction.

To miss was not an option. Her opponent was the strongest Level 5 and if she were detected after her initiative missed, her defeat at that point would have been certain regardless of the distance between them or how far she fled.

The girl placed her finger to the trigger.

She had no hesitation. Despite the fact that the target before her was a living human boy and with the pull a trigger a .50 caliber anti-tank bullet would fire from the rifle at a sky-ripping velocity of 3070 kilometers per hour (852.8 m/s). Though she knew that the boy's upper body would have morphed into shreds of flesh at a speed faster than sound itself, she held no hesitation.

Imposed upon those slender shoulders was but one task: annihilate the strongest Level 5 esper, Accelerator, by sniping him.

"…"

She listened to sounds of the wind as they flowed and swirled into colliding vortexes that formed fixed directions for only moments at a time. For a time period lasting less than two seconds, the complex wind eddies stabilized. She pulled the trigger.

A thunderous roar ripped through the sky like the explosion of a fireworks factory. Despite the fact that she was sniping, the girl continued to fire on full-automatic. She tenaciously absorbed the recoil capable of toppling over large adults and, within a single second, twelve shots were fired with consistently pinpoint accuracy.

She ignored her emptied magazine and observed the fate of the boy through the scope. Since the wind flows were stable, it was impossible to miss. All twelve bullets would pierce the boy's back; that slender, wire-like physique would shatter and burst into tiny chunks.

That should have been the case. But, the next instant, the Metal Eater in the girl's hands exploded. The rounds that connected directly… rebounded. Almost like a video playing in reverse, the shells' ballistics redirected, plunging perfectly back into the muzzle of the anti-tank rifle like a Kendama game, bursting the Metal Eater into tiny fragments.

The girl lacked the visual acuity to detect the incoming bullets. The extent of her knowledge ended at the fact that the rifle way destroyed by some impact. Her body was pierced by the countless fragments of metal while her right shoulder, which was pressed against the Metal Eater's stock, was severed by something passing through it. Somehow, Accelerator himself, after taking the rifle's shots, was unharmed. In the end, the sniping had failed; Accelerator had detected it. That fact alone was enough for the girl to make her next decision.

The girl, with her tattered body, ignored her intense pain that felt like boiling water was poured over her head as she fled toward the building's flight of emergency stairs.

* * *

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 **Leona-do**


	11. Experiment Discovery

**Chapter Eleven "Experiment Discovery"**

Misaka-10031 She grunted her teeth at the failed opportunity that she had not been able to take her target's life. Her right arm was damaged while countless metal fragments had entered her body. Her condition to fight had been severely hampered. Now her chances of survival had gone down from abysmal to certain death.

The Misaka clone ran. She ran for her life. Down the emergency stairs after her failed attempt to snipe her target. While running down her emergency stairs, she grabbed a package that she had prepared in the event that she had failed with the sniping her target.

The boy's hair and skin were dreadfully white. They were white, but they were the opposite of the image of purity white often gave. This white was a very dirty white. That rotten white was accentuated by the fact that his clothes were all black. And there were his eyes. Those eyes were red like fresh blood, crimson like burning flames, and scarlet like the depths of hell. He was Accelerator. The strongest Esper in Academy City.

He stared at Misaka-10031 and silently smiled.

One of her shoes came off. The girl felt that running with only one shoe would be difficult, so she pulled off the other one and continued to run.

Her raging pulse, exceedingly irregular breathing, and flickering, chaotic thoughts all clearly showed that she was the one being hunted.

A form approached from behind.

A white boy was heading for her from not even 10 meters away.

"Ha ha! What's with those fleeing hips? Why are you shaking your ass like that!? You're just asking for it!"

That narrow alley was straight and lacking any kind of cover to avoid a bullet with, yet the unarmed "hunter" was overflowing with crazed passion.

Without stopping her flight, the girl twisted her body around to look behind her. She aimed the barrel of the F2000R at the white boy named Accelerator. She did not hesitate to pull the trigger.

The rifle silently absorbed both the shock and the sound of the gunshot, so only the tiniest of an explosive noise left the barrel as if only a cheap firecracker had been set off. Nevertheless, 5.56 mm bullets accurately shot toward the boy's vital points.

If she had been dealing with normal humans then her target should've dropped dead after her shots were fired.

The girl's body froze due to shock. The 5.56 mm bullets held the destructive force to fly out the other side if they were shot into the side of a car, but they were repelled in every direction the instant they hit the boy's body. It was as if she had fired a cheap handgun at the front of a tank.

With the sound of flesh being crushed, a red hole had been opened in the girl's right shoulder. One of the repelled bullet had pierced her shoulder.

"…E…Gh!"

The girl staggered. She immediately reached for the wall, but her legs got tangled together and her head struck the dirty wall. From there, she slid down to the ground.

"C'mon, how about a riddle to kill some time? Here's your question: What is it that the power of Accelerator does!?"

The girl heard a crazed laugh. When she looked up, she saw the boy's leg coming down with all his weight behind it to crush her skull. She immediately rolled along the dirty ground and evaded the downward swinging foot.

She then held the F2000R up and pulled the trigger. She fired at what could almost be called point-blank range. The bullet seemed to be absorbed in toward the white boy's eye, but the instant it touched his soft eyeball, it was repelled to the side.

The white boy did not even blink. His expression changed to a smile that made his dirty-white face look hideously burned. He swung up his white hand. He swung up that hand that had an unknown effect.

"…!"

The girl immediately threw the F2000R at the boy's face as the rifle was now empty. She did not think that it would act as a fatal blow, but she hoped it would provide an instantaneous opening she could use to escape.

However, the boy did not move even slightly. The instant the rifle struck the boy's face, the F2000R broke to pieces. It was as if the gun had been chomped on by giant invisible fangs.

The girl did not have time to be frozen in shock. She twisted her body and managed to roll a step away from the boy. She swung around her left hand as she could still move that one and gathered power there.

She released a lightning spear from it. The spear of purple electricity moved forward and held enough destructive force to knock someone unconscious.

She did not think that it would act as a fatal blow. As long as it distracted him long enough for her to get away, that was enough. However, the lightning spear she had fired at the boy rebounded and struck her in her own chest.

"Gah…!?"

The girl was knocked back to the ground with a shock that felt like she had been struck in the chest with a hammer. Her breathing stopped and every muscle in her body moved irregularly.

The girl's trembling lips managed to put together a single word.

"Re…flection…!?"

"Sorry, that's not entirely wrong, but it still doesn't get to the essence of what I can do!"

The girl somehow tried to distance herself from the boy, but her body would not do what she told it too due to the electrical attack she herself had fired.

"The answer is vector transformation! Motion, heat, electricity. I can alter any kind of vector that touches my skin. I have it set to reflect by default, though!"

The girl looked up at the boy's face in shock.

The 2.3 million espers in Academy City were indeed special humans, but not many of them could defeat even a handgun with their power. And if they could defeat a handgun, you would use a machine gun. If they could defeat a machine gun, you would use a tank, a fighter aircraft, a battleship with submarines, or as a last resort, even a nuclear missile.

There were no espers who could defeat something like that. In fact, it would just be a lot easier to buy a handgun rather than controlling the brain and altering the arrangement of genes in order to create a power that could fight against a gun. It just seemed absurd to create a huge psychic powers development institution that slipped past international law in order to create something on the level of a cheap weapon that could be bought in American supermarkets for about 30,000 yen.

That was why Academy City's goal was not to create espers. The espers were nothing more than a type of litmus paper. It seemed what was truly important was why espers had been born and what mechanism brought them about.

Yet the boy before her eyes was different.

He was Accelerator, Academy City's strongest Level 5.

The word "monster" came to the girl's mind. The creature before her eyes that had a human form held the power to singlehandedly make an enemy of the entire world and survive.

The boy crouched down next to the girl.

"My Level 5 power lets me control every kind of vector." That boy seemed so different, but he spoke as if it was nothing. "If I use it, I can even do this."

The boy stuck his slender index finger into the dark-red hole in the girl's right shoulder. It was like the action of a child squashing a bug on the road.

"…!"

There was a sound like a red fruit being squished and the girl's body stiffened in intense pain.

"Now, it's time for the question for the consolation round," Accelerator said mockingly. "I'm touching your blood. I'm touching the flow of your blood. Now, if I reverse that vector…If I reverse the vector of your blood, what will happen to your body? A correct answer gets you a nice peaceful sleep!"

The girl began to tremble for her life. She knew what was going to happen. Knowing that she was going to die made it scarier any given moment. She closed her eyes, expecting an agonizing pain that would end her life.

The last thing she remembered before closing her eyes and fainting from the emotional shock that she was going to die was a blur and something grabbing her.

\- O -

"Damn…" Shirou Emiya cursed as he ran away with the girl who he had rescued and looked behind over his shoulder.

The boy known as Accelerator was brutal. He was true a sadist. Unless he was faking it to the point that Shirou wasn't able to discern. Accelerator was someone that was not just a walking weapon that was especially good at killing, but he was also a psychological weapon with the level of brutality and terror he inspired with just his presence.

If Shirou was to rate the amount of fear and terror evoked then he would place him round about the same level as a Dead Apostle and its undead legion. That was a horrifying experience for even the most experienced of horror film watchers. Only someone that witnessed and survived something like that could have any hope of functioning like the girl that had just fought.

He looked down at the unconsciousness clone of Mikoto Misaka, Misaka-10031, in his hands.

"You're lucky that you're alive. My Bounded Field created an illusion that created a false series of events to Accelerator's perspective, which included that he 'killed' you when in actual fact that I rescued you. If I had tried something like that before the Incident, it wouldn't have not worked. Given the lack of time and materials. It was only thanks to the Magic Circuits that I had received from Rin after the Incident that I had the ability to hastily erect it to save within seconds. The same task that would've taken pre-Incident me hours to do what I just did."

Shirou carefully thought about what Accelerator had blurted out. Most mages that he had fought always blurted out what skills they had or how their magic worked when they had the upper hand, especially when they were sure that their target was unable to fight back or were about to die. A product of their pride in their abilities and skills that came from the time spent to get them. But, it could be false information as mages were known to over-exaggerated or told misinformation about their true abilities and how it worked.

"Vector Manipulation. I know the vector from kinetic energy can be manipulated, such as being reflected. I know that Accelerator can reflect a round from an anti-tank rifle at least." Shirou said as he analysed what information that he had gathered from watching Misaka-10031 fighting Accelerator. "Besides that, I know very little information about his abilities' limits. Is he limited to just manipulating kinetic energy or can he control other forms of energy like he claim? How many joules of energy can he control as his limit?"

He ceased in his musing when something got his attention.

If he was going to investigate, there was no way he was going to the girl, who had rescued, lying somewhere. He couldn't leave the girl here. There was no telling of Accelerator was to return. The place was also an alleyway that the unscrupulous sort used. If they found an unconscious girl on the ground, there was no telling what they would do to Misaka-10031. The problem was that the place he was also going to was potentially dangerous.

There was only one safe place he knew of that was close by.

\- O -

Something was moving in the darkness. Shirou Emiya could smell it. The scent belonging to humans. And he picked up another scent that belonged to a group of supernatural users of this world, magicians and espers, or mages from his old one. The particular smell was that of ozone, the magical scent associated with users of electricity. He recognized the scent specifically one belonging to Mikoto Misaka, but not as potent as her. A smell that matched exactly that of Misaka-10031.

"Who's there!?" Shirou yelled, playing the act of being an ignorant fool.

It was exactly as he thought. Another clone of Mikoto Misaka appeared. She was carrying a body-bag over her shoulder with her knees bent slightly like she was carrying a heavy weight. The bag was clearly empty, but it seemed like she thought the bag was filled with a human corpse. No doubt thinking Misaka-10031 had been killed by Accelerator and packed inside when the clone was affected by the same Bounded Field that had made Accelerator think that he had killed Misaka-10031 and leave.

"What…?" Shirou spoke, standing back a couple of steps. "Hey, wait a second. What is going on?"

"The Misaka that you have known today is dead."

Shirou's breathing froze. He continued to play his part as the ignorant fool. He looked toward it wondering what was inside. As he did, something jumped into the center of his vision. It was an object sticking out from the zipper of the body bag. Hair was sticking out from the gap next to the zipper like it was a weed.

"Wait, wait. What are you carrying? What's inside that body bag?"

"…? You do not know?" Misaka asked in return. "As you entered the testing site, Misaka assumed you were related to the experiment, but…yes, it is true that you do not look like someone related to the experiment." Shirou fell silent, not with the act but because he had no clue why Accelerator had attempted to kill Misaka-10031 or what another clone was talking about. "Just to make sure, Misaka will check using the passcode. ZXC741ASD852QWE963."

Code encryption and de-encryption was not something of Shirou was good at. It was a task that he reserved to support team that he hired and whom worked whenever he gave the call that he needed their help. Shirou resisted the urge to make the call to his support team. That would make the Misaka clone act unpredictable as she would probably bolt or fight him when she thought she was looking for aid.

"What? What are you talking about?" Shirou inquired, fishing around for information.

"As you were unable to decode that passcode, you do not seem to be related to the experiment. This body bag contains a Sister." The voice that had answered Shirou's question had clearly been Misaka clone. However, the voice as well as a footstep had come from behind Misaka Imouto. The voice had sounded like it was coming from way down the alleyway.

Shirou Emiya prepared himself. There was no mistake. His senses picked up the presence of more individuals. More accurately the scent and silhouette to denote more Mikoto clones.

There were two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. He began to lose count when the number of Misaka clones reached the hundreds

"It seems the experiment caused you unnecessary worry…"

"But you do not need to worry…"

"So you were the one who called the police…"

"That was the appropriate decision…"

"Every Misaka here is Misaka."

"But what would you have done if Misaka had been the murderer?"

"The details are classified, so Misaka cannot explain, but there was no trouble here."

Shirou stepped back. He faced with increasingly number of potential enemies. What troubled him was not the numbers. He had fought large numbers of enemies many times. It was the fact that he didn't know about their full extent of their abilities. He had only observed Misaka-10031. There was no telling how powerful each of the Mikoto clones were or how they would do collective working together.

He turned around. Then he looked around. The Mikoto clones surrounding him from every direction.

His Magic Circuits hummed to life. He had hundreds of blades beckoning to call forth from his Reality Marble, ready to materialize into existence and deal with the Mikoto's clones.

"Misaka is sure that Misaka-10031 is dead and is being carried in bodybag, but somehow she is still detecting Misaka-10031 in the Misaka Network when she confirmed visually for myself that she had been killed by Accelerator?" The Mikoto's clones asked collectively.

"Damn… not just clones of the same person, but connected in a telepathic network…" Shirou muttered. "Hive-mind consciousness enemies are so annoying to deal with. Their teamwork…"

He started to call upon his experiences fighting similar or superior number of like the Mikoto clones that were all connected in a telepathic network. Amongst them were the legion of undead led by a Dead Apostle or legion of homunculi controlled by a mage.

"Do not worry. We shall not harm you. Serial Number 10031 is still connected to the network, which means she is still alive, but we confirmed through both electronic means and ourselves that Accelerator killed her. We just like to know about this abnormality for something tells us that you have something to do with it."

Shirou debated whether to lie or not. He could potentially fool them that instant and get away, but there was no telling how long the lie would stand. If he told them the truth then they might not be angry as he had effectively saved Misaka-10031, therefore getting their gratitude. Or they could become angry at the fact that they had been fooled and turn on him. Still he wanted to take the risk. The thought fighting the Mikoto clones now then later seemed better to him. He was sure that he could take them on here and now. And it was more preferable then having hundreds of clones to observe him, looking for his weaknesses and attacking him when he let his guard down.

" _Open_ ," Shirou commanded.

Misaka-10031 appeared when a portal to Unlimited Blade Works deposited its temporary guest that Shirou had placed there.

"You are correct," Shirou continued. "Misaka-10031 is still alive. I managed to save her from Accelerator."

"How?"

"Illusionist?"

"Illusions have been proven to fool both the human senses and electronic systems."

"Agreed."

"That doesn't explain what seemed like a portal."

"Hmmmhhhhmmmmm…."

The Mikoto clones talked amongst themselves.

"I believe I deserve the right to be answered after I saved one of you." Shirou interrupted the Mikoto Clones. "I would like to ask. Who are you?"

"The Misakas are the Sisters, cellular clones created as mass-produced military models of the Original, one of the seven Level 5s of Academy City."

"What are you doing?" Shirou asked.

"Merely an experiment. Misaka apologizes again for getting you involved in this particular experiment."

"What experiment…?" Shirou asked.

"…"

"He doesn't have the clearance to know."

"He saved one of us. The scientist and Accelerator think Misaka-10031 is dead. They have no way of knowing if we don't tell them."

"All of us look the same and share the same DNA. There is no way they could tell if she survived until everyone of us is dead."

Shirou thought about what he had heard.

The term "cellular clone" and how an experiment required the Mikoto clones' deaths made Shirou angry. He didn't know what the experiment was for, but something told him that the experiment was not for noble purposes. Say like how Minnesota Starvation-Recovery Experiment that took near the end of WWII.

The Minnesota Starvation-Recovery Experiment had been a scientific experiment that had people starved to study the physiological and psychological effects of severe and prolonged dietary restriction and the effectiveness of dietary rehabilitation strategies. It was inhumane and unethical experiment by modern standards, but it had been conducted with willing humans, some of whom dead, but had the scientific data had been used to greatly advanced understanding of human starvation, how to treat it correct and safely, and used to guide the Allied Powers relief assistance to famine victims in Europe and Asia at the end of World War II. Millions had been saved in the immediate aftermath of WWII with that knowledge and countless after since then.

He could be incorrect. The Mikoto clones could be dying for a noble cause. If that was so then he ungrudgingly allow this experiment to happen. But that didn't mean he would not take interest in it. The concept "lives not wasted" would have to be observed. That each death yielded results worthy of the sacrifice and not wasted. He needed to know more.

By the time he had made his decision, Mikoto clones had disappeared.

"Shit!" Shirou cursed. "Mikoto seems to know what is going on. She might know where the twins are."

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

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 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


	12. Stuffed Bear

**Chapter Twelve "Stuffed Bear"**

"So this is the place."

Shirou got off the bus and looked up at the building. Normal concrete buildings were lined up around it, but that three-story building alone was made of stone. The Western-looking building was just stuck in the middle of everything else and it had an odd sense of history to it like a foreign dormitory had been moved from its original country and placed there. It had no garden or lawn. Just like the other buildings, it was standing right next to the sidewalk.

He headed for the main entrance, but it was locked up more tightly than he had expected. At first glance it appeared to be double doors made of wood. That got him to inspect the door with his magecraft. It was wood alright. The properties of the wood had been altered, either through genetic modification to the wood's source or material engineering. It would take something like a car to smash into to make it move.

The door knob seemed to be a sensor and he could see a red light inside the keyhole that was made to look old. Shirou guessed offhand that it detected one's fingerprint, checked one's bodily electricity and pulse pattern from one's skin, and maybe even checked one's DNA code from the oil on one's fingers.

A number of mailboxes were lined up next to the door. They were not much different from the newspaper box for a nice apartment. From the names on the mailboxes, Mikoto seemed to be in Room 208.

He had no option left but to use the intercom. Just like at a nice apartment building, it was set up so calculator-like buttons could be used to punch in the number of the room and it would connect directly to that room.

He entered 208 into the intercom and pressed the ring button

"This is Shirou. Is that Misaka?"

He heard some noise over the intercom. It was the sound of someone on the other side breathing.

After a slight, ever so slight pause…

"Oh, Shirou-san, did you say?" A voice responded that was clearly not Mikoto, but seemed to belong to someone that he had heard before.

"Did I get the wrong room number?"

"No, no, you didn't. Do you have business with onee-sama? I am her roommate."

"Oh, I see. Well, from your response, I'm guessing Misaka is not back yet…"

"Correct. But she should be back soon. That entrance functions both as security and to enforce the curfew," said the slow voice over the intercom. "If you have business with onee-sama, I suggest you come inside."

He heard the sound of the intercom cutting off followed by the sound of the entrance unlocking. From the multiple metallic noises, it seemed multiple types of locks were used.

He passed through the main entrance to find a giant hall. The interior looked like a place nobles would live in. The walls and ceiling were mostly white and a red carpet covered the floor. He thought it might just have been nouveau riche tastes, but he also had a feeling that an intruder would greatly stand out with that coloration.

He wasn't sure if the residents were merely well-behaved or if the building had good soundproofing, but the area was wrapped in a calm silence like a shrine or a temple. Shirou ignored the corridors stretching off to the left and right of the entrance hall and headed for the staircase in the center of the hall that led to the second and third floors. According the mailboxes, Mikoto's room was Room 208.

He climbed the stairs and walked down the second floor passageway on the left.

He found Room 208 almost right away. The number was displayed on the wooden door in gold numbering. The cat stared at its reflection in the polished door and Shirou felt it was like the door to a hotel room. However, there was not an intercom on the door inside like in a hotel.

Shirou lightly knocked on the door and a voice responded.

"Come in. It isn't locked, so you can open it yourself."

He opened the door and the inside was like a hotel room as well. There was a door to what was likely a unit bathroom immediately inside and there were two beds, a side table, and a small refrigerator further in. There was nothing like a closet, so it seemed all personal items were kept in the giant suitcases next to the beds.

Despite being in her room, Shirai Kuroko still had her hair up in pigtails. She was still wearing summer clothes, so she looked a tad unnatural sitting on the bed.

Shirou looked around the room again. Even if her roommate had given him permission, he still felt awkward being in a girl's room when she wasn't there. Seeing how he was acting, Shirai Kuroko laughed a bit.

"Sorry. This room is really only to sleep in, so it is not really made to entertain guests. Please just sit on the other bed while you wait for onee-sama."

"…No, I can't sit on her bed without permission."

"Do not worry. That is my bed."

"Then I will stand." Shirou said as he leaned up against the wall. "I assumed you were her underclassman because you called her "onee-sama", but I guess you're actually a classmate."

"No, no. I am most certainly onee-sama's underclassman. I merely had her previous roommate leave…in a completely legal way of course." Shirou's face stiffened and Kuroko continued to speak. "…Onee-sama has a lot of enemies. I suppose that is the fate of those with great power, but don't you think it would just be too tough for her to have a traitor sleeping in the same room as her?"

"…"

Shirou fell silent and the cat stopped struggling and looked up at his face.

"So," Kuroko said while looking at Shirou, "are you the gentleman that has been having frequent disputes with onee-sama?"

"Well it's more like your sister getting pissed off at me because she cannot harm me with her electrical abilities, but she never went close to using the full extent of her abilities against."

"…Are you telling me the truth?" Kuroko asked in a dubious tone as she stared at him.

"Why would I lie?" Shirou responded.

"I find it hard to believe that. If you were able to withstand Onee-sama's electrical attacks unscathed that would be an impressive achievement by itself. And something that everyone would know."

"Believe what you wish then."

Kuroko sighed.

"…Well whatever. That not important." Kuroko brushed off. "You seem to be the honest type. I must thank you for supporting onee-sama."

"Supporting?"

"Yes. She may not be aware of it, but everyone can tell that she happily mentions this gentleman at meals, during baths, and while going to sleep." Kuroko sighed again. "…And yet she has someone who wants to be her ally right here. Her face makes it look like that is the one place for her in this world. Whoever it is has left quite an impression on her."

"No another one…" Shirou groaned as he facepalmed.

It reminded Shirou how many times that Rin had gotten angry at him in his past life how much of a lady's magnet he was. Not in the way as a playboy or a flirt, but because through his deeds as a hero. He got it, that anyone, much less women, would be come to like him, grateful for him saving their lives. The number of women, even men, that had fallen in love with him had gotten outrageous.

"… Index and Kanzaki had fallen for me… Rin entered the picture… Now Mikoto… Such misfortune!" Shirou shouted at his increasingly complicated life.

"Rin? That reminds me, you seemed to know Konori-senpai, Mii Konori, to be exact. Is Rin, Konori-senpai's nickname, or an alias?" Kuroko asked before coming to realise something. "Oh, no! Onee-sama! How can this be?!" Kuroko lamented as she threw herself against a wall and began to smash her head repeated against the wall. "The gentlemen that Onee-sama likes also happens to be already be in a close relationship with Konori-senpai!"

Shirou face-palmed. For some reason, he remembered how Luvia and Rin had reacted when they both had discovered that they both loved the same man. Though, they had reacted even more dramatically than Kuroko was. They had literally destroyed entire buildings in trivial matters like the right who was going to be his first wife and etc.

When he heard footsteps coming down the hallway outside the door, he began to sweat. It had come to him what was going to happen to him if anyone else was to learn his presence in Mikoto's and Kuroko's room. This was a girl's exclusive dormitory. Whether or not it was in the dorm's rules that boys or men were allowed was not the issue, but how people would react if they were to learn about his presence.

Kuroko listened for an instant and then jumped up from the bed.

"Oh, no. That sounds like the dorm supervisor making her rounds!" Kuroko said in a frightened tone as she began to wave her arm about in panic. "Wh-what do we do? This will get very bad if the dorm supervisor finds out about you."

"How bad shall she react?"

"Like break my neck, bad." Kuroko said in a fearful tone. "It is not normal for a gentleman to be in Tokiwadai's dorm! Ahh, this is a pain, so I'll just teleport y-…huh? Why won't my power work on you!?" Kuroko didn't bother asking waiting for Shirou's response. "Quickly, hide under the bed."

Kuroko suddenly started pushing on Shirou's head to force him under Mikoto's bed.

 _Ow! Wait, dammit! I'm not gonna fit in that space!_ Shirou mentally protested, but kept his mouth shut as his shouting would only lead to his discovery and Kuroko's punishment.

Eventually, Shirou was stuffed under the bed like luggage being stuffed into a car's trunk. Surprisingly, the area below the bed had been cleaned nicely, so there was no dust. Not only was the area under the bed cramped, but something was already there. Shirou was being pushed into a large stuffed bear about as tall as he was.

Just as Shirou was considering pushing the bear out of the way, he heard the door open without even a single knock. He heard a low female voice.

"Shirai. It is time for dinner, so get down to the dining room. …Where is Misaka? I have received no notification of her being away and roommates are responsible too when someone breaks curfew, so I hope you do not mind receiving a demerit."

He then heard Kuroko speaking.

"Oh, I believe she had rather urgent business, so she did not have time to submit a notification. I believe in onee-sama, so I cannot accept a demerit."

It seemed the dorm supervisor pushed Kuroko out of the room. Shirou waited tensely under the bed for a bit. He could not tell what was going on while under the bed and it would not be too surprising if the dorm supervisor came back, so he couldn't just casually crawl out from under the bed.

Shirou sighed and then looked over at the stuffed bear under the bed with him.

At first he thought it seemed fancier than he would have thought Mikoto would like, but when he looked closer, he saw one of its eyes was covered with an eyepatch, it had bandages wrapped around its entire body, and it had stitches like with Frankenstein. It was more funky than fancy.

Then his instincts told him that something wasn't right. That the stuffed bear was of some importance. He then ran his hand over the ripped fabric. He felt something hard inside the stuffed bear. It was like something was inside the bear.

Looking closer, he could see that a few of the stitches had been remade into zippers. It had quite a few small pockets in it. He stroked the bear to check and felt something like a small bottle inside. There might have been perfume hidden inside and the cat had been unable to stand the smell. It seemed Mikoto used the bear to hide the objects that were against school rules. It was almost like someone running drugs.

Given the size of the stuffed bear, Mikoto must have had a lot of things she didn't want people finding. Shirou sighed and took his hand off of the bear.

The bear had a thick collar around its neck that looked a bit like a belt and it said "Killbear". That was likely the bear's name, but that didn't really matter.

Looking from above, a zipper around the neck could be seen hidden by the collar. It was made so it could not be opened with the tight collar in the way. Also, the collar had a large padlock on it that doubled as part of the decoration. That zipper was clearly used differently from the others.

Most likely, what was in there was the thing Mikoto least wanted anyone to see. Shirou didn't want to pry, but the zipper was still half open. It seemed there was paper inside. The corner of a piece of paper was sticking out of the half open zipper. That was all. There was nothing else to it. Shirou felt he could easily ignore it. It wasn't right to dig down into other's secrets. It wasn't right, but the paper had the following written in typed lettering.

"Test Number 07-15-2005071112-A. Using the Radio Noise Sisters to Shift the Level 5 Accelerator to…" Shirou read.

Only the corner of the paper was sticking out from the zipper, so he could not read the rest. He closed his eyes. Most likely, there would be no going back once he read that. He was at his last chance to turn back.

It seemed that his instincts had been right. He had come to meet Mikoto to talk about the Misaka Sisters to find she was not in her dorm, but he got the next best thing.

To get the paper out, he would have to completely open the half-open zipper. However, the thick collar with the padlock was in the way. Normally, that would have been a major problem for a normal person, but he not an ordinary person. He was a mage. He didn't need to see the papers.

He placed a hand and muttered, " _Trace On_."

Inside his mind, he found a report of almost 20 pages inside. From the date and file name written on the edges of the paper it seemed to be a printout of a file.

"Using the Radio Noise Sisters to Shift the Level 5 Accelerator to Level 6."

That was the name of the name of the report.

The report never once mentioned the names of the laboratories or people involved. It was as if it had been made so no real evidence would remain even if the report were leaked out by some mistake.

The report was very technically written, so there were a lot of words that were not in Japanese. Shirou used his knowledge to its fullest in order to somehow transform it into something he could understand.

"Academy City has seven Level 5s. However, the predictive calculations of Tree Diagram have established that there is a single one of them who is capable of reaching the as yet unseen Level 6. The other Level 5s are either growing in a different direction or their bodily balance would be lost by an increase in dosage."

There was a list of 7 esper names with various types of graphs, but Shirou skipped past them.

"The sole person who is able to reach Level 6 is known as Accelerator. Accelerator is in reality Academy City's strongest Level 5. According to Tree Diagram's calculations, he would reach Level 6 after 250 years of undergoing the regular Curriculum."

Shirou read the further wit interest. As reference data, it stated that a few ways of having a person remain active for 250 years were given in a different report.

"We searched for a method that does not require using those 250 year methods. As a result, Tree Diagram led us to a different method than the usual Curriculum. It is based on the fact that use of powers in actual battle quickens the growth process. There have been many reports of those with Telekinesis or Pyrokinesis gaining increased accuracy, so we are going to take advantage of this. By preparing special battlefields and having the battles proceed according to specific scenarios, we can control the direction of the growth gained in the battles."

He felt disgusted that the scientist had come with that conclusion. There were many methods in improving one's ability. It did not matter if it was psychic powers or magic. The method the scientist had opted was not training for battle or a realistic simulation of battle through intense sparring. What they were advocating was something that he was all too familiar with especially with mages that did illegal and unethical human experimentations.

"According to the calculations carried out by Tree Diagram's simulator, it was determined that preparing 128 types of battlefields and having him kill Railgun 128 times would allow Accelerator to shift to Level 6."

Shirou made a promise. He was a hero of justice. That ones that had taken part in the experiment written on the report he was reading was going to pay. Killing them was mercy. What they advocated without caring about the human pain, misery and death was unforgivable. A sadist side of him was rearing its head. The side that manifested when he interrogated for information, often with the use of torture.

"However, we cannot of course prepare 128 Railguns as she is also a Level 5. That is when our attention turned to the Sisters project meant to mass produce Level 5s that we had been carrying out at the same time. Of course, there is a difference in specs between the original Railgun and the mass produced Sisters. The power of the mass produced model is largely estimated to be around Level 3. According to Tree Diagram's recalculation based on those criteria, it was determined that preparing 20,000 battlefields and 20,000 Sisters would produce the same result as described above. The 20,000 types of battlefields and battle scenarios are explained in a different report."

No, he decided how he was going to make the anyone taking part in unforgivable experiment.

"The method of creating the Sisters was carried out the same as in the original project. A zygote is prepared from the cells taken from Railgun's hair and growth is accelerated by administering Zid-02, Riz-13, and Hel-03. As a result, they obtain physically 14-year-old bodies the same as Railgun in about 14 days. As the clones were created from the already deteriorating cells and had their growth accelerated with drugs, it is highly likely that they will have shorter lifespans than Railgun. However, it is estimated to not be extreme enough to affect their specs during the experiment."

So the Misaka Sisters were like homunculi. They were designed to be sacrificed. That made Shirou's blood boil. If the Misaka Sisters had been created for the purpose of labor like mages normally did with homunculi then he would've been okay with that. People worked labor as a means to make a living. Homunculi could be said to be doing the same thing. But for the sake of making someone stronger. That was something that he couldn't forgive when there was other methods to become stronger without killing people.

"The real problem does not lie in the hardware of their bodies. It lies in the software of their personalities. The basic information in the brain such as language, motion, and ethics take form from the ages of 0-6. However, the Sisters only have 144 hours for that due to their abnormal growth rate. It is difficult to teach them by standard methods. As such, we have used Testaments to install all of that basic information."

Testament? That was something that Shirou didn't know about. He would need to such what they were.

"The first 9802 experiments will be performed inside, but the remaining 10198 experiments must be performed outdoors due to the requirements for the battlefield. Due to issues regarding the disposal of bodies, we have narrowed the battlefields down to a single district of Academy City."

Shirou crushed the report in his hands.

"Damn them…"

A certain girl had been created just so she could be killed. She was a mass of flesh that had been born by taking a nucleus from someone's cell and implanting it in an unharmed ovum which was then mixed together with a few chemicals in a test tube. That girl who looked 14 had spent her entire life imprisoned in a cold laboratory where she was referred to by a number instead of a name. And this had not happened once, but several thousand times. Thousand clones of Mikoto Misaka. Each one that didn't even have a choice of whether they were killed or not.

Shirou gritted his teeth.

Since the report had been hidden inside a stuffed bear, which happened to be in Mikoto's room, that meant Mikoto was involved. That raised many more questions for Shirou. Was Mikoto a willingly or unwillingly participant? The had to have gotten cells from her if they wanted to create the Misaka Sisters. Did Mikoto condone the experiment or was under duress? Shirou found it hard to believe that Mikoto could willingly go with the experiment. She didn't have the personality, but then again many of the mages that he thought were could not possibly be connected to illegal and unethical human experimentations to actual be doing so.

He shuddered at the thought of being in Mikoto position. Shirou couldn't imagine being able to just stand by and let 20,000 clones of himself die. It would nightmarish to imagine so many thousands people that looked exactly like him and sounded like him, if the Misaka Sisters were anything to go by, die in some selfish experiment to just make one individual stronger. His consciousness would plague him to paint the picture imagine himself thousands of times dying in the place of the clones.

He, Shirou Emiya, a hero of justice was going to put an end to this madness. If Mikoto was under duress then he would free her. If she was willingly and condoned the experiment then he would show her no mercy.

He didn't care about anything anymore. If his, Mikoto's or Kuroko's reputation was destroyed by the fact that a male was doing in a female dormitory. There was more important things to do. He gave no thought to the possibility of being spotted. Not caring if anyone saw him, he ran down the hallway, down the stairs, and out the main entrance.

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

 **Follow and Favorite. I am encouraged to write by the number of Follows and Favourites so please tag this story!**

 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


	13. Misaka Network

**This chapter has been updated. If I added an additional part at the last third of this chapter. Please read it.**

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen "Misaka Network"**

The sky had turned to the black of the sea at night.

The moon was in a crescent shape. The narrow moon looked like a sneering mouth and its light was much too weak. The street lights did not reach an iron bridge ways from the center of the city. With the black of the river running below as well, the area seemed to have sunken into darkness.

Mikoto Misaka had her hands on the handrail as she vacantly stared at the distant lights of the city.

Bluish-white sparks crackled around her.

The term "electrical attack" had a frightening ring to it, but it was a kind light to her. She could not forget the night on which she first became able to use her power. She had crawled under her blanket and sent out small sparks all night long. She had seen them as sparkling stars. She had seriously thought that she might be able to create a starry sky one day when she was older and stronger.

That was how she had been before she grew up.

Now, she did not feel she had the right to have dreams.

"…"

She clenched her fists and then opened them again.

With just that motion, Mikoto's eyes narrowed slightly in a smile.

That simple action was one that everyone took for granted.

However, there were people in the world who could not take that simple action.

"…Muscular dystrophy, hm?"

Muscular dystrophy was an incurable disease of unknown cause where one's muscles slowly become unusable. As the muscles became unusable, the strength of the muscles fell. Eventually, that loss of muscular strength spread throughout the entire body and even the freedom of the heart and lungs was lost.

Of course, Mikoto did not have muscular dystrophy. Nor did she have someone close to her who suffered from it. But she had thought that life would be a tough one.

Those born with the medical condition had done nothing wrong, but they were born with a body that would not move as they wanted it to, they had to watch helplessly as their body grew weaker and weaker, and they finally became unable to get up off of a bed. No matter much they tried to reach out their hand asking for help, no one would come to grab that hand. And there were those who had the worse cases of muscular dystrophy where their muscle degeneration affected their vital organs and even led to death.

A researcher had asked her if she wanted to try to help those people. The researcher had said that those with muscular dystrophy might be able to be saved using her power. The man in the lab coat had then tried to shake her hand.

Muscular dystrophy was a disease that made one's muscles not move as you wanted them to. And the brain's instructions were sent to the muscles with electrical signals. If someone had the power to manipulate their own bodily electricity, they might be able to send signals to the muscles via a different way than the usual nerve route.

She, Mikoto Misaka, was supposed to be a possible cure. Since she, Railgun, was the strongest esper with electrical abilities, they had thought her genes had the key to a possible cure. The saving light to those people who were being swallowed up bit by bit by unease and fear as they helplessly saw their bodies getting weaker and weaker.

Long ago, a certain young child had believed those words without a shred of doubt. She had thought that, if her Electromaster power could be studied, it could be "transplanted" into others and save all those suffering from muscular dystrophy.

That was how Mikoto Misaka's DNA map had been officially recorded into Academy City's Bank.

However, recently there had been a rumor spreading throughout Academy City that her DNA map had been used to create the military-purposed Misaka Sisters. It wasn't that rare an occurrence. Mikoto was one of the seven Level 5s and a scholarship student at the prestigious powers development school of Tokiwadai Middle School. There had been countless baseless rumors like that about her. That was why she had not believed the rumor.

Or perhaps she had simply not wanted to believe it.

However, that girl's wish had been shattered in a way she had never expected.

"…"

A mass production line had already been created for the Radio Noise Sisters that had been created for military use. An inexhaustible supply could be created at the press of a button. And the Sisters that had been created did not even get to live the life of a weapon. Instead, their sole purpose in life was to be killed as experimental animals. They were like frogs to be dissected.

"Why…did it end up like this?" Mikoto muttered with trembling lips.

The reason was obvious. It was because she had carelessly shared her DNA map when she was little. She did not know if that man in the lab coat had been lying from the start or if the proper research had been changed partway through.

There had once been a little girl who had wished to save some troubled people. But that girl's wish had resulted in 20,000 people being killed.

"…"

That was why that girl wished to stop it. Even if it cost her her life, she had to stop that insane experiment. She did not think she was being cool by betting her life. She did not especially want to die. In fact, her body was trembling, her fingertips had gone pale and cold, and she could not gather her thoughts properly as if there was static scattered throughout the back of her head.

If she could, she wanted to yell out for help. But she could not allow herself to do that. The Misaka Sisters, their suffering and deaths were all her fault. If she hadn't given a sample of DNA then things might've been different.

It was Mikoto's fault that around 10,000 Sisters had been killed and the remaining 10,000 were still standing on the verge of death. Could someone who had committed such a great crime – could a monster whose hands were soaked in blood, flesh, bone, fat, and guts – really ask for help? She did not think so.

"…Help me." That was why Mikoto let out that voice in that place where it would reach no one. Her frightened, wounded, and tattered voice merely disappeared into the darkness. "Help me…"

That cry that would reach no one spilled uncontrollably from her mouth. And then she sounds of footsteps.

"…"

With no street lights, the only light was the pale moonlight from the wire-thin crescent moon. This left that iron bridge covered in darkness as if it represented the environment surrounding her.

"…What are you doing?" That boy appeared as if he were tearing through that darkness.

He appeared like a hero rushing over in response to the cries of a girl being swallowed up by the darkness.

After he spoke, Mikoto looked at him.

"Hmn. I'm free to do whatever I want wherever I want. After all, I'm the Level 5 Railgun. The kinds of delinquents who I might run into at night don't even come close to being a danger to me. And you have no right to say anything to me about this." Mikoto said as she wiped away the tears that had formed.

"I know about Misaka Sisters, I know about the experiment and I know about Accelerator."

Mikoto was shocked. There was no way he should know about the Level Shift Experiment. Misaka Sisters, yes because he could've seen multiply of her clones at once, but not about the experiment. The experiment had been well hidden. meticulously so that no one beside those directly involved knew about it. So it was a question how Shirou knew.

Her question was answered when Shirou pulled out a pile of papers. A report printed on over 20 pieces of copy paper. The copy of a report that detailed the insane experiment that Mikoto had procured. Though, how did Shirou even know where to find it was a question.

That was when any attempt of Mikoto to hide what was her problem stopped. It was easy to tell when she had a desperate look.

"How did you know where to find this?" Mikoto asked, dropping any attempt to hide what was likely what Shirou had come to talk to her about. "After seeing that, were you worried about me? Or could you not forgive me?"

"I want to know if you're part of this!" Shirou said as he grabbed Mikoto by the collar and pointed at the report that had fallen on the ground. "Are you supporting the experiment or against it?!"

"WHAT?!" Mikoto said in disbelief at what she heard.

"I asked you, are you supporting the experiment or against it?!" Shirou demanded as he shook her.

"I-I-I… wanted to know how you came to the conclusion that I supported something as despiecable as the Level 6 Shift Experiment?! Do you think I would want to support something like that?! I am watching 20,000 clones of me die in an inexcusable thing of an experiment! I am watching something like that happening to me! Clones that look and sound exactly like me!" Mikoto spat furiously.

"Look me in the eye and say that!" Shirou shouted as he shook her furiously and stared into her eyes.

Mikoto shivered and felt her heart beat stop beating. The look that Shirou now sported was nothing like she had ever seen or imagined him to be able to. It was a look that promised agonizing pain and death for refusing to tell him the truth. For a moment, Mikoto could imagine Shirou resort to torture and even murder if she said involved in supporting the program.

"I'm not," Mikoto muttered.

"WHAT DO YOU SAY?!" Shirou demanded.

She began to sweat profusely. Mikoto saw blades materialize in the air and pointing at her. Their sharp tips piercing the very first layers of her skin and drawing a little blood. It would take just for a moment before she could do anything for her to become a human corpse with blades pierced into her and their tips protruding out of her.

There was no doubt who was the one responsible. She had never seen Shirou's abilities before but the fact that he was the furious one and demanding answer when the blades had appeared made it obvious that his powers had something to do with blades.

"I SAID, I DON'T SUPPORT IT!" Mikoto screamed.

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear." Shirou said as he released Mikoto from his grasp and the blades disappeared.

Mikoto sighed in relief. She shivered. She had seen a side of Shirou that she hadn't ever imagined before. Someone that scary and ruthless. In her mind, she knew that Shirou would've used violence to get answers. The look he had sported wasn't that of just bluffing that was what her instincts told her.

While the sweating had stopped and her resumed its normal rhythm, an idea formed in her mind. Shirou the side she had just seen made him a perfect candidate. He was perfect to help her. Mikoto had no doubt that if he was to demand answers from the scientist that had refused to talk to her would talk with the look, the air he had projected and the appearance of the blades.

"Maybe not such a good idea." Mikoto muttered, imagining that if the scientists refused then Shirou would no doubt resort to violence.

"What did you say?" Shirou asked.

"Nothing," Mikoto said dismissingly.

"Well… I apologize for going to your room without permission. I did get permission from your roommate." Shirou said in a sorry tone.

"Kuroko, let you in?" Mikoto asked, which Shirou nodded in confirmation. "I'm going to talk to her later."

"I came here because I wanted to talk to you about the reports, but it was the map with the report that made me come urgently. There are X marks written over laboratories that have been all destroyed recently. Do you have something to do with them?"

"Yes. I went in and blow them up. No one was injured or killed of course. I made sure of that. There are pieces of equipment in those labs that cost hundreds of millions of yen. I just used my power over the network to thoroughly destroy them. Without working equipment, the labs can't function, so they close and the project becomes permanently frozen." She had been almost happily singing, but then she stopped for an instant. "…Or that was how it was supposed to go."

"How it was supposed to go?"

"Yes. It was easy enough to destroy one or two labs, but the experiment was then picked up by another lab. No matter how many times I destroyed the lab or got in the way, the experiment continued on and continued on. The idea of the never before-seen Level 6 must truly sound wonderful to those researchers." Mikoto said in exhausted and defeated tone.

"I know all about it. The greed for knowledge, no matter the cost. The ruthless scientist that don't think abit of those who suffer because of their research." Shirou said in tone that made Mikoto think that he truly understood her anguish, but she didn't how he would know something like that.

"...Those girls have no problem referring to themselves as experimental animals," Mikoto said. "Experimental animals. Do you know how rats or guinea pigs are treated?" She seemed to be gritting her teeth. "I was curious, so I looked into it, but it's horrible. While still alive and without being given any anesthetic, they have holes opened up in their skulls with saws and then have data taken on what happens when drugs are directly applied to their brains. Each and every day, records are kept on how many milliliters of the drug it takes before they cough of blood and die in agony. If they might run low on supplies, they just put the males and females together to breed and if they have leftovers after the experiment is over, they just toss them as is into a furnace." Mikoto's throat moved as if she were suppressing the urge to vomit. "Those girls fully understand what an experimental animal is. They know, but they are still calmly able to say that's what they are."

Mikoto bit her lip because she simply couldn't stand that. She bit down so hard that red blood flowed out because she couldn't stand it but she couldn't find a way to stop it.

"Of course, Judgement or Anti-Skill cannot do anything about it, right?" Shirou said.

"H-h-how did you know?" Mikoto asked in disbelief at how Shirou had basically read her mind.

"I could tell from the reports. Major criminal organizations might have the money to do something as large as this, but they don't have the type of people, resources and connections to pull something like this without the authorities noticing. That means either the authorities know about it and ignoring it or they are truly ignorant. I believe it's the first case as Anti-Skill is not that blind or unskilled to know something like this happening in Academy City. Most likely the Board of Directors are involved in this and using their influence to stop any investigations by Anti-skill into the experiment."

"They're in on it. They cannot be." Mikoto agreed as she nodded. "And of course, that includes the police of this city, Anti-Skill and Judgment. They hold the law of this city in their hands, so reporting it will only get you captured."

"I wouldn't be that cynical. The police are like any group of people. They are those who are corrupt and those who genuinely fight for justice. It's those ultimately in control like you said the Board of Directors that are likely the party responsible. They are probably the ones ignoring this and suppressing the information from leaking into the public." Shirou refuted.

"…If he kills 128 Railguns, Accelerator can shift to Level 6," Mikoto muttered in the darkness. "However, we cannot prepare 128 Railguns. So we prepared 20,000 Sisters, the deteriorated copies of Railgun." Mikoto's tongue glided along. "What if I did not have that much value?" Shirou's remained silent. "What if I could make the researchers think that he would not reach Level 6 even if he killed 128 of me?" She smiled as she spoke. "According to Tree Diagram, if Accelerator and I were to fight, I would be killed after 185 moves even if I focused on fleeing. But what if the battle ended sooner than that? What if I lost on the very first move and could do nothing but pathetically turn tail and attempt to flee?" As she said that, she smiled. "When the researchers saw that, I'm sure they would think that Tree Diagram's calculations were wonderful, but that it was still wrong."

"So, you intent to die? To prove the thing that created the hypothesis for the experiment to happen." Shirou said. A battered smile appeared on her face. "Even if you fool the researchers once, they'll just recalculate everything with Tree Diagram and start the experiment back up when they get the same result!"

"Don't worry. That won't happen. Tree Diagram was shot down by some unknown attack from the ground about 2 weeks ago. The higher ups seem to be hiding that fact to protect their reputation, but they can't recalculate it." Mikoto said with some relief.

Suddenly, Mikoto saw Shirou sport a mix sheepishly and triumphant expression.

"Don't tell me you had some hand in Tree Diagram's destruction?! How?!" Mikoto said in shock.

"Let's say Saint George at something to do with it." Shirou replied in an ambigious tone.

"What does a Christian Saint have to do with Tree Diagram's destruction?" Mikoto asked in puzzlement but got no answer. "Well continuing where I left off… Tree Diagram cannot be used to recalculate anything, all those third rate people just have to accept what it said because they can't analyze what parts of all that data are correct and what parts are wrong. That is why they will have no choice but to stop the entire experiment if a mistake appears in a portion of the data. It's just like a program being forcibly terminated when a strange bug occurs. If my death was to occur before the predicted conditions."

"I see," Shirou said. "So you're planning to die."

"Yes," Mikoto nodded.

"You truly believe that your death will save the remaining 10,000 Sisters."

"Yes," Mikoto nodded. She took one step to face Shirou. "Now that you know that, get out of the way. I am about to go face Accelerator. I've already stolen the data on the locations of the 20,000 battlefields, so I can head to the battlefield before the Sister begins fighting and end all the fighting. So get out of the way."

Shirou gritted his teeth. "I won't get out of the way."

Mikoto looked at Shirou in what looked like utter shock. "You…won't get out of the way?"

"That's right," he said as he stood there.

After hearing what Mikoto had said, he could not move out of her way. However, Mikoto could not accept that. Her lips trembled in anger and she had an expression of disbelief on her face.

"What are you saying? Do you know what you're saying? If I don't die, 10,000 Sisters will die. Or are you saying you have another way? Don't tell me you don't care about their deaths just because they're deteriorated copies…"

"…Even so, I won't let you."

For an instant, just an instant, a surprised look appeared on Mikoto's face. That look was quickly replaced with anger. "I see. So you're going to stop me. So you don't care about the lives of 10,000 Sisters." Tension ran through the air. "I don't want to see those girls hurt, so I want to protect them myself. …If you are going to stop me from doing so, then I will take you out here. This is your final warning. Get out of the way."

Shirou merely shook his head.

The edges of Mikoto's lips bent upward.

"Ha. So you're going to stop me by force? Fine, then I won't hold back either." Bluish-white sparks flew from Mikoto's shoulder. "Because it does. You truly will die otherwise."

The sparks poured out and connected to the railing of the bridge where they vanished.

Mikoto smiled slightly as she looked at Shirou. "This is my problem. It's wrong to try to rely on anyone else. I caused this problem, so I need to take responsibility and save those girls myself."

"…" Shirou fell silent.

Mikoto slightly bent her small lips. "If you think about it, it's quite simple. This experiment is meant to make Accelerator stronger. In that case, it's so simple. If they lose Accelerator, the experiment will fall apart."

"How? I heard the report. The Mikoto Sisters, while weaker then you and a Level 3 at best, couldn't even scratch Accelerator. You might be stronger, but 10,000 of your clones have failed to harm him. I also read about the Misaka Network. The Misaka Sisters also experience what the others had. That means during the 10,000 plus times that the Misaka Sister fought Accelerator they gained experience in fighting him to assess his abilities and devise tactics, that have all failed. What can you hope to do what the Misaka Sisters couldn't?" Shirou demanded.

"I know that! I already fought him once. I couldn't do anything, but what do you want me do?! Let them die?!" Mikoto screamed in frustration.

"What if I told you there was a way. A way to dismantle the entire project." Shirou said in enticing tone.

"What? What is it?" Mikoto asked.

"Become a Level 6, and defeat Accelerator." Shirou said with a scary smile that made Mikoto afraid. "I'm going to need Rin, or Mii Konori as you know her."

"What does Konori-senpai have anything to do with this?" Mikoto asked, puzzled by Shirou's answer.

"You shall see. You shall see." Shirou said in an ominous tone.

\- O -

"Sheesh, Shirou. What did you want me to meet you at this hour? Do you know how late it is or the fact the place you wanted to meet was the least like place I would think of? Rin said in annoyance as she walked out of the darkness.

"So you actually came. It seems like I really infected you with my heroic nature." Shirou teased in amused tone.

"Shut up! It's because of your Magic Circuits! Literally, you did infect me with your stupid need to be a hero! Magic Circuits are part of the soul, the soul which happens to where memories and the personality reside. How could I not be influenced when your memories bled into my own?!" Rin snapped.

"You could've sealed them away. My Magic Circuits from influencing you."

"And cripple myself even more after losing a majority of my Magic Circuits to you?! I had to make do with the ones I received from you in replacement of my own Magic Circuits. Do you know how much shame you brought down upon me?! I, Rin Tohsaka, Head of the Tohsaka family, had most of my genetic lineage stolen from me!"

"You kidding right, stop making that excuse. Remember how you gave up title when you married me? And must I remind that you were extremely happy to do so in when I proposed to you and when you confirmed our marriage at the wedding?" Shirou said, which made Rin wince. "You were the one that proposed the magic ritual before something went wrong and caused the Incident. In fact, the purpose of the magic ritual had been to see what had conditions had allowed the development of my Reality Marble, and if it was replicable by using some of my Magic Circuits as sort of a 'seed' to possible develop your own Reality Marble."

"Urk!" Rin grunted like she had been pierced by a nail that had been driven further into her with every statement Shirou made. She collapsed onto the ground and balled herself into a fetal position and began to mutter gloomily to herself. "I knew I shouldn't have done it. I got to greedy. Now, I paid the price. Oh, my ancestors, please forgive me."

"Not this again." Shirou muttered in a troubled tone. "Well here is what you need to know…"

\- O -

"Are you sure this is going to work, Konori-senpai?" Mikoto asked suspiciously as she stared at the gigantic and intricate looking magic circle that had been drawn underneath her with all sorts of materials and languages associated with the occult.

"Why are you so suspicious?" Rin responded, slightly offended that Mikoto had no confidence in handiwork.

"Well… You are the one that normally advocates science over the occult." Mikoto said in a quiet voice.

"This isn't the rubbish garbage you find on the internet or those fake magical books! This is legit magecraft!" Rin shouted in outrage.

"Magecraft? You mean magic, right?" Mikoto inquired.

"Rin and I are called Mages, practitioners of Magecraft. The correct name for what we are and practice." Shirou explained.

"So you're one of those people that think psychic powers as magic…" Mikoto said in a disappointed tone. "…How unscientific."

"Misaka! Magecraft is scientific. It is what led science of supernatural phenomena." Rin said hotly.

"There are actually two sides to supernatural users. Magicians and Espers. Each side called the Magic and Science Side." Shirou spoke.

"Wait what?! There was like that? Does the Association and the Church exist? Any major organization that we are familiar with?" Rin demanded.

Shirou leaned into Rin and whispered into her ears, "I will explain later. Can we focus at why I called you?"

"Fine, but you better explain it all. Don't leave anything out." Rin whispered back in annoyed tone. She turned her attention back to Mikoto. "Do you have any questions before I begin the magic ritual?"

"Time out!" Mikoto shouted. "I am careless to what is going on. The only thing I know is that Shirou called you and there is a magic circle around me to somehow make me stronger so I can fight Accelerator. How is a magic ritual supposed to do that?"

"I could spend hours explaining all the technicalities and you would have no idea because you have absolutely no knowledge of magecraft." Rin said in smug tone. "I told Shirou about the Level Upper Incident that you and I solved together, and he got an idea from hearing about it. He told me about the Misaka Network and about using it."

Mikoto's eyes widened in realization. Her mind was about to recall the details when suddenly Rin spoke up.

"Here, we go!" Rin chirped with a mischievous grin.

"Wait I'm not rea–!" Mikoto shouted before she eyes began to close against her will and she lost control over her body.

\- O -

 _I am detecting another presence in the network._

 _Another additional? Was there another one scheduled for production?_

 _I don't recall so. Investigating._

 _Nothing. There is nothing in our collective database._

 _Misaka-11512, here. I just checked with one of the scientist. There is no more clones planned for production._

 _What level scientist did you ask? Did you ask one of the higher-ranked ones?_

 _No. A fairly low one._

 _This is Last Order, Misaka-20031, speaking. The newcomer shares the same brain wavelength as us. I am not detecting any unnatural influences to point to someone attempting to copy our brain wavelengths, and thus join the Misaka Network._

Mikoto, who had been lost in what she thought had been her own thoughts, suddenly realized what was going on.

 _What the hell?! Why I'm a doing here?_ Mikoto screamed.

 _Onee-sama?_

 _Onee-sama? How do you know that it is her, Misaka-10031?_

 _My instincts tell me it Onee-sama._

Another voice was about to speak up when Mikoto cut in. _Of course it would be me, Mikoto Miksaka, who else would be?!_

 _Collecting data. Comparing new data with previously archived data. Analyzing. Analysis: 99.876% accuracy. 0.00312% margin of error. Conclusion this is Mikoto Misaka, Onee-sama._

 _Confirmed, I have checked the data analysis myself._

 _This is unprecedented. We never would've been thought, Onee-sama, would be able to join the Network since she never showed any ability before._

 _I, Last Order, Misaka-20001, transfer the administrative authority of the Misaka Network to its rightful order, Mikoto Misaka._

Mikoto screamed as her brain was overwhelmed by the collective memories and then blanked out.

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

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 **Leona-do**


	14. Railgun vs Accelerator Part I

**Hey, if you're reading this chapter, I want to let you know I completely forgot to add part of the chapter from the previously released one (Chapter Thirteen "Misaka Network"). Just Re-read the last third of Chapter Thirteen as that is the part that I forgot to add.**

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen "Railgun vs Accelerator Part I"**

As the night grew deeper, the cold grew sharper. Despite it being the middle of summer, she felt a chill like a cold blade being pressed up against her stomach.

The girl left a shopping district and walked with an accurate, machine-like pace toward a section of a silent industrial area. As she walked along the empty street lined with street lights, the girl mentally went over the contents of the experiment about to begin.

The absolute coordinates of the area to be used were X-228561, Y-568714. The start time was at exactly 8:30 PM Japanese Standard Time. She would be the specimen to be used.

"…"

The girl ran mentally through the scenario in which she was to be killed, but no tragic expression appeared on her face. There was no fear, no hatred, and not even resignation on her face. Her face truly was expressionless. If someone had seen that, they would sense the same danger as watching a clockwork doll heading for the edge of a cliff.

The girl walked down the dark street. She headed alone to her destination. Her precise footsteps sounded like the ticking of a time bomb.

The girl had arrived at a train switchyard.

Similar to a transit bus garage, it was a place where many trains were serviced and where they were kept after the last train ran. An area about the size of a school's grounds was covered in the same gravel as a train track and over 10 rails were lined up next to each other. Lined up at the end of the tracks were garages with large shutters over them making them look like rental storage areas at a port. Surrounding the entire switchyard were large numbers of metal containers used on freight trains. The containers were piled up like building blocks and they rivaled three story buildings in height. The disorderly piles made the area around the switchyard seem like a three-dimensional maze. The containers were like mountains and the switchyard itself was like the basin between the mountains.

The switchyard was not a popular place.

As all students had to be back from school by the time the last train left, the switchyard was quickly abandoned. The electric lights used for work were turned off and there were no houses nearby so that left no illumination. Even though 2.3 million people lived in that city, that area was wrapped in such darkness that the usually invisible stars were visible in the night sky.

Standing in the middle of that vacant darkness was Academy City's strongest Esper, Accelerator. His form seemed to be one with the surrounding darkness. The white boy smiled in the black darkness. His eerie whiteness gave her the feeling that her eyeballs had been thrown into boiling water.

"So it's 8:25… I take it you're the next doll to be targeted in the experiment?" Accelerator's voice sounded like a white darkness spewing forth from that smile that split across his face.

The girl's expression did not change even slightly.

"No, I'm not. This is Misaka-00000."

"What…? When was there a doll bearing the serial number of zero? I've killed 10031 of your clones, If I'm right. So it should Misaka-10032 that I'm fighting today." Accelerator said in a confused tone.

"This ends today!"

Lightning surged forward from her hand.

\- O -

"Why did you go through this path?" Rin asked as she watched Mikoto and Accelerator fight from a distance.

"This was the best route to success from what I had been able to devise. Sure, you and I both know various methods to enhance someone's strength either temporarily or permanently, but many of them have undesired side effects. Many of them include shortening one's lifespan or crippling themselves later. I chose the route that seemed to have no side effect on enhancing the user." Shirou responded.

"Mikoto was very different. I don't know how long you've known her for, but it highly unlikely as long as I. I've known her since elementary school thanks to Kuroko." Rin said.

"Ya, I noticed too. And, yes, I'm only known her for six months." Shirou replied. "What exactly do you think happened after she was hooked up to the Misaka Network?"

"You tell me? I've never experienced anything like what Mikoto did. You on the other hand have. Well something similar. The Soul Resonance you had when you were near Counter Guardian EMIYA for any prolonged time."

"Ya, that was an experience unlike anything that I've felt. It's not like the usual memory-sharing magecraft where you can experience the memories of someone. It felt like a two way exchange where we peered into the souls of each other." Shirou responded. "Mikoto was different though, she experienced the memories of thousands of clones."

"Clones that happen to have only a few months of memories each. Even if they were in the thousands, they would never have the amount of memories as a Counter Guardian would have. A being that exists outside the axis of time and summoned across the time. EMIYA had thousands of years old from what you told me."

"Yeah, you're right. Even EMIYA himself didn't know how old he was since becoming a Counter Guardian."

"If you could handle something like that then Mikoto could."

"I don't know. She seemed more affected than I had been with EMIYA."

"Hush, no need to worry. Mikoto is one tough girl. Something like that wouldn't stop her."

"… I just hope what we did works."

"It will. You did give her a little something as insurance. If all else fails, you and I can step in."

"Ha…" Shirou sighed. "I hope it doesn't come to that. The whole plan was to prove Tree Diagram's prediction wrong and have Accelerator defeated by Mikoto. If we step in that defeats the whole purpose of the plan and then we would have to step in to dismantle this illegal and unethical human experiment."

"Well, you're a Hero of Justice. Shirou."

"I know. I know."

\- O -

Bluish-white flashes of light as if from a camera flash lit up the dark switchyard.

The girl and Accelerator's feet kicked up the gravel. The distance between them was less than 10 meters.

"Hah. What!? Are you just walking around casually without a plan? If you like pain that much, I'll make you cry so much you might as well take a cough drop now!"

With his arms still spread out, Accelerator bent over and closed in on the girl like he was a carnivorous beast. He did not need to think about defense. In fact, he did not even need to think about attacking. For someone who could reflect all kinds of attacks and therefore could kill his opponent just by touching them, a fight was nothing more than thinking of the fastest and most definite way of touching his opponent.

As he could reflect all kinds of attacks, there was no way of stopping his legs from bringing him closer. The girl was faced with that unreasonable amount of violence that was like driving a tank into the middle of a group of demonstrators.

"Tch." Mikoto cursed. "I knew this level of lightning cannot harm you as seen through my sisters' memories, but I thought your shield would weaken eventually."

"It's as if you imply that you're stronger than those trash dolls that I've taken out already. They were between the strengths of Level 2 and 3. Unless you're saying that you're the Original?!" Accelerator said in amused tone.

Mikoto Misaka bit back the urge to shout out that she was indeed 'the Original' as Accelerator called her since the Misaka Sisters had been cloned from her DNA. Shirou Emiya had told her several tips before she had come to fight Accelerator. He had told her to avoid exciting Accelerator in battle when she could. According to his words, "Accelerator is the type uses more power the more he is excited in battle. You are trying to win so you must reduce trying to excite Accelerator if possible." So that was what she was going to do to win.

The girl took steps back to put some distance between her and Accelerator as if she were fleeing from his advance. The girl paid close attention to the situation around her and continued to flee back sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left. The carnivorous beast that was Accelerator chased after her.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! That's pathetic! Where was all the bravdo before?! What the hell are you hoping for?! No matter how much time you buy yourself, there isn't gonna be a miracle!" Accelerator shouted in jeering tone.

Mikoto was not listening. She did nothing but put distance between her and her enemy while keeping that enemy in her range of vision. Accelerator felt like the blood vessels in his head were going to burst, but then he noticed that the girl was electrifying the surrounding air.

"Oh, come the hell on! Surely you know that's fucking useless! And I'm not going to play along with your pathetic attempts at resisting much longer!" Accelerator laughed mockingly.

He could reflect any attack that was thrown at him and The girl was purposefully not firing the electricity at him out of fear of that. The sparks were flying around him, but no actual attack came his way.

"What's with her?"

Accelerator gritted his teeth, but then he noticed that he was short of breath. At first he thought he had used up too much oxygen by talking while running around, but it was too odd for that. A sharp stench sent off alarm bells in his head.

Accelerator checked on his surroundings again. The girl continued to run away, she was firing electrical attacks around him, he was oddly out of breath, and he could reflect any direct attack.

 _Ohhh, I see. Ozone, huh?_ Accelerator figured out what was being done. 

The oxygen in the air could be broken apart with electricity. Oxygen molecules were normally formed from two oxygen atoms, but once the two oxygen atoms broke apart, they had a disposition toward connecting together in threes as ozone. Oxygen and ozone were two different things. Breathing it in would not satisfy one's lungs. And as was obvious from its use in sterilization, it was toxic.

No attack would reach Accelerator, but that did not change the fact that he was a human that breathed in oxygen and breathed out carbon dioxide. If all the oxygen were removed from his surroundings, he would suffer from oxygen deprivation.

"Good, good, excellent! I take it back, you are a worthy enemy after all! Ha ha! Now this is an excellent change of pace! After killing 10,000 of you, you've finally come up with a good idea!" Accelerator chased after her while laughing out of enjoyment. "But! There's one weak point! Your plan fails if I catch up to you!"

Accelerator's foot suddenly caused the gravel behind him to explode. He had altered the vector for the motion of his foot. As if a rocket were firing from the bottom of his foot, he shot 7 meters forward like a bullet in one step. The girl tried to jump further back, but Accelerator heartlessly flew forward many times faster than she could move.

Then Mikoto smirked. "Take this!"

"Shit!" Accelerator cursed.

Large metal containers, each weighing several tonnes, came smashing at Accelerator from every direction. Each one at the speed of a bullet. Something that would've crushed even the latest military armored vehicles to pulp if they were to be hit. The metal containers smashed into each other and screeched.

"So that wasn't enough…" Mikoto muttered as she saw the outward bulges of the metal containers that made an imprint of a small sphere around where Accelerator should've been squashed.

The metal containers were thrown in every direction.

"…Haahaaaaaahaaaaahaaaaa…" Accelerator panted heavily from the suddenly unexpected workload.

"So even you have your limits. Shirou was right. My sisters were simply too weak, thus the illusion that you were an invincible monster had been created in their minds." Mikoto muttered.

"Shit! You're the Original. Those clones can't even produce anything more than 50,000 volts of electricity to be able to magnetically move those metal containers like that." Accelerator realized. Then a bloodthirsty smile formed in his face. "Good! Good! I'm going to get a good fight and not more of those boring one-sided fights from the clones."

"You're going to pay for all my sisters you killed!" Mikoto screamed as she jumped towards Accelerator.

"What the he–" Accelerator spoke before being cut off. "Uuuuuugggggghhhhhh…!"

"Shut the hell up!" Mikoto screamed in outrage and fury as her fist slammed into Accelerator and spent him flying into a metal container.

Accelerator looked at Mikoto from his position in disbelief. He was looking at something he truly could not believe. For as long as he remembered since he had learned to control his powers, nothing had hit him unless he allowed it. It didn't matter if it was an object or some form of energy. His ability, Vector Transformation, allowed him to manipulate the vector of matter and energy. He could not comprehend how he had been hit.

Mikoto, on the other hand, was happy. The countless memories and raw data that her sisters had collected on Accelerator had never shown him even being scratched. It seemed all the memories and data had not taken into account how powerful the real Railgun, the Original Railgun, was compared to her clone sisters. The fact she had injured Accelerator meant that she could defeat him.

"How? How were you able to hit me?!" Accelerator demanded as he stood up and wiped the blood trailing down his mouth after hit in the torso and driven into a metal container.

"…" Mikoto smiled instead at victory.

"Fine! Don't tell me. You got lucky! That will not happen again!" Accelerator snarled.

Level 5 Rank 3, Mikoto Misaka, looked around. For about 100 meters around her, the ground was covered in nothing but gravel and steel rails. Mikoto and Accelerator were both standing on that level surface with nowhere to hide. They were about 10 meters apart. That distance could be filled in three or four steps if one of them started running.

Mikoto took one last breath before she slightly lowered her entire body like a spring. She explosively charged forward as electricity arced around her and propelled her like a magnetically accelerated bullet.

However, Accelerator did not move from that spot. In fact, he did not even clench either fist. He kept his arms dangling at his sides, he did not use his legs to shift his center of gravity, and a smile split across his face.

Accelerator slightly tapped the heel of his foot on the gravel as if he were tapping his foot to a rhythm. In that instant, the gravel below his feet exploded like he had stepped on a landmine. A large amount of gravel scattered in every direction and at close range it was reminiscent of a shotgun blast.

She immediately projected a powerful magnetic field around herself. The dozens of small stones with various sizes bounced of her body.

What Accelerator had done did nothing to stop Mikoto. Instead, she had simply gotten accelerated faster and faster at her target. When she came very close hitting Accelerator, she suddenly smashed into an invisible wall and stopped.

"I see, you used the concept of your nickname, Railgun, to use your body as a bullet and the surrounding objects as magnets. The only reason that you had been able to hit me was because the sheer force behind your body overwhelmed by barrier that hadn't been created to block something as powerful as a human body moving at supersonic speeds." Accelerator deduced about the mystery about how he had been hit despite his defenses.

"That's not the only thing I had in store!" Mikoto shouted.

Accelerator had once again made an unconscious decision based on that 10,000 some Mikoto Sisters that he had fought. The clones, who could only produce a maximum of 50,000 volts, had been ingrained in his mind. There was no way his subconscious mind could tell the difference when Mikoto Misaka looked and had the exact same voice as her clones. His defenses against electrical attacks had been set to block up to 100,000 volts. It was shattered instantly when half a million volts of electricity surged from Mikoto's fist.

"Guh!" Accelerator screamed as electricity surged through his body.

The electrical attack was so powerful that an explosion of electricity had occurred and sent Accelerator flying. He smashed into a metal container and did not move.

"You're still alive…?" Mikoto said in amazement as she saw the raising and sinking of Accelerator's chest.

"Shaddap!" Accelerator screamed as smoke rose from his burned body.

The injured Accelerator struggled to stand up. His body was sporting various severity of burns. His torso and head sported anything between 1st and 2nd degree burns while his limbs suffered the most damage with 2nd to 3rd degree burns.

Accelerator thanked his past experience with lightning. While after he had learned to control his abilities and until the current fight, he had never been injured by anyone else, that did not include a force of nature that called itself lightning. Something that easily overwhelmed his strongest defenses with up to a billion volts and travelling at the speed of light. He had been hit once by lighting and had narrowly avoided death. It was through that experience that to prevent himself from being killed by a potential lightning strike in the future that he had trained his body to avoid from being killed electricity.

It was that training to prevent death from another lightning strike that his body had subconsciously re-directed the electricity from away from his vital organs that he had survived. Though, even that had been a struggle. He had managed to re-direct all electricity from interfering with his vital organs, but half a million vents had was too much for even him. Only a minority of half million voltage had been discharged without harming him from his body and the rest directed away as much possible from his vital organs that he had sacrificed the rest of his body to prevent death.

Accelerator stepped on the ground again.

He must have converted the vector of that shock in some way because a steel rail lying at his feet stood up on end like there had been a spring under it. Accelerator used a backhanded blow like he was brushing a spider web away and knocked the rail flying. His action had been nothing more than the slight strike one would use on an unreasonable child, but a great noise like a church bell resounded throughout the switchyard. The steel rail bent into a shallow V-shape and flew straight for Mikoto like a bullet.

Mikoto jumped away from its path.

Immediately afterwards, the crushed piece of steel pierced into the ground like a holy sword in the exact spot Mikoto had been lying in before. The mass of steel weighed hundreds of kilograms. When it struck the ground, it sent a large amount of gravel flying into the air. It was like a meteorite striking the sea. Countless small stones came at her.

She shielded herself by projecting an electromagnetic field around herself that deflected the stones.

Accelerator fired a second and third steel rail at Mikoto who was rolling on the ground. Those masses of steel flying through the air were as unavoidable for a human as handgun bullets. A direct hit from one would be certain death and even barely avoiding one would lead to damage from the gravel scattered by the hit, which would slowly but surely add up and lead to death.

"Die already!" Accelerator shouted.

Accelerator continued with his offensive.

Mikoto looked up and saw multiple steel rails flying toward him. She immediately tried to move, but she was attacked from all sides simultaneously.

In the distance ahead of her, she saw Accelerator slightly lowering his entire body like a spring.

"Ah hah! See!? You're slow, so slow, so very slow!"

At that time, there were about 30 meters between Accelerator and Mikoto. Despite this, Accelerator brought that distance to zero in only two steps. The gravel at his feet exploded as if from a rocket and Accelerator charged toward Mikoto with tremendous speed as he moved almost like a rock skipping on the water.

Mikoto tried to attack first, but Accelerator's foot struck the ground first. The steel rail lying at her feet stood up as if a spring lay beneath it. The bolt in the railroad tie popped off like a shirt button. Before Mikoto could respond in surprise, the rising rail struck her in the chin like an uppercut.

"Ghah…!" Mikoto screamed as she felt something in her mouth break.

Her body shot up and a space of 20 cm opened up between her feet and the ground. Accelerator watched that with a satisfied look and opened up his right hand like it was a demon's claw and aimed it for Mikoto's airborne body. That was the very same hand that had sent steel rails flying like bullets with just a soft stroke.

Mikoto saw Accelerator's right hand moving in toward him like a poisonous snake and immediately struck out electricity despite still being in midair. The electromagnetic field created by the electricity attracted the steel rail and pulled it away from her body, following the electricity that fly harmless away from Mikoto.

Accelerator forcefully stomped on the ground. That stomp turned the gravel into a dangerous weapon. The grovel shot at her while she floated in midair. Like so many times before, the grovel bounced harmless of the electromagnetic field around herself.

"Che. This isn't working. So what about this?" Accelerator shouted as he pointed at Mikoto.

Mikoto screamed as she smashed into a container. The side of a container. It was part of the piles of containers that surrounded the switchyard. Accelerator and The girl had been in the center of the switchyard, so Mikoto must have travelled a few dozen meters while evading the various attacks. The containers were piled up five or six tall and the piles were about as tall as a three story building.

For an instant, Mikoto glanced at the wall of the container her back was to think of what to do.

"Oh, so you have time to look away!? If you want to die that badly, I'll turn you into such a lovely piece of art that you'll end up with a Guinness World Record!"

Mikoto turned back around just in time to see Accelerator sink down and then jump up from the gravel a few meters away. It should have just been a normal vertical jump, but his slender body shot 4 meters up into the air. He aimed his feet for Mikoto's head.

Mikoto immediately rolled to the side to avoid the strike and Accelerator's jump kick struck the metal side of the container Mikoto had been leaning on. A great noise like a church bell resounded throughout the area.

Suddenly, the pile of containers collapsed. It was like when a pile of building blocks had the bottommost block pulled out.

The instant Accelerator's jump kick crushed the bottommost container like it was made of paper, the containers it had been supporting wobbled and suddenly collapsed. When one collapsed, it brought the one next to it down with it causing the entire pile of containers to collapse like a house of cards.

Mikoto looked above. A number of containers had been thrown into the air like giant dice and were about to rain down on her. Just when she was about to jump to the side in an attempt to avoid the containers falling toward her head, she saw Accelerator lowering down like his entire body was a spring.

He then shot forward like a bullet.

Mikoto immediately kicked up the gravel at her feet toward Accelerator's approaching eyes. Of course, that would not stop Accelerator. He did not stop in his charge. Instead he increased his acceleration, but since he was blinded momentarily, he was unable to manipulate the vectors of the containers to fall upon Mikoto.

In doing so, Mikoto bought time for herself she evaded the rain of containers without worrying about Accelerator controlling their movements.

In doing so, he managed to get some space between himself and Accelerator.

The containers struck the ground an instant later. A large amount of gravel flew up into the air and a cloud of sand obstructed Mikoto's vision. Suddenly, countless containers came rolling through that cloud of dust as if to crush Mikoto. The containers rampaged around on unpredictable paths like living beings similar to dice dancing around in a giant cup.

Mikoto desperately jumped out of the way of the containers.

They finally stopped moving, but the cloud of dust continued to rob Mikoto of her vision. No, it was not a cloud of dust. It seemed the containers had held flour. The cloud of powder was like a white mist as it hazily obstructed Mikoto's view.

That white curtain surrounded Mikoto in all directions. She did not know when or from where Accelerator would slice through that curtain and attack him.

But instead, he heard a voice coming from in front of him beyond the white curtain.

It was as if Accelerator were showing off his location.

"Heh. It looks like these containers held flour, but this nice windless night might be making this a very dangerous situation."

Mikoto looked questioningly in the direction of the voice.

"There are stories of explosions in mines, right? Those don't happen because someone didn't use their explosives properly." The voice sounded like it was grinning and enjoying itself. "They were caused by the fine dust from the stones filling the air in the mine. A lot like now."

Mikoto jumped out. She figured out what Accelerator was trying to do, so he moved his battered body in an attempt to get out of there.

"If there is powder floating in the air, it can be ignited. The combustion rate of oxygen is ridiculously fast, so it seems all the air in the place becomes one giant bomb. Surely you've at least heard of a dust explosion."

Immediately afterwards, all sound was blown away.

The area with a 30 meter radius in which the flour had been scattered became a giant bomb. The entire area became wrapped in flames and heat as if gasoline vaporized into the air had been ignited.

Mikoto had just barely managed to escape the curtain of flour when it happened.

The shock wave struck her back and knocked him down to the gravel, but he managed to avoid being enveloped in the flames themselves. However, a dust explosion was different from a normal explosion because it used the oxygen in the air as fuel. The explosion instantly stole all the oxygen in the area which lowered the air pressure dramatically.

Fortunately, it had occurred outside rather than in a sealed area, so a vacuum was not created. But the sudden change in air pressure internally squeezed on her organs to the very limit. If it had actually been a vacuum, her body would likely have burst open from the inside.

"Gah…Ahh…!" Mikoto screamed as she moved her battered body and just barely managed to stand up as the sea of flames lit the switchyard up as if it were the middle of the day.

When Mikoto turned around, she saw Accelerator was walking there. He was calmly walking through the crimson purgatory he himself had created.

"God damn it. I'm sure you just experienced it yourself, but the lack of oxygen was tough on me, too. Fuck, I thought I was gonna die. You should be glad. I think you're the first in the world to make me, Accelerator, think he was gonna die."

"You're are going to wish that you're going to die after I am done with you?! YOU HEAR ME ACCLERATOR!" Mikoto screamed as memories of her sisters came to the forefront.

Amid the flames, Accelerator tilted his head to the side like a child.

"Let see about that!" Accelerator shouted as he gestured for metal containers to rain down upon Mikoto.

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

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 **Leona-do**


	15. Railgun vs Accelerator Part II

**Chapter Fifteen "Railgun vs Accelerator Part II"**

Accelerator clapped his hands in applause within the sea of flames.

"You made a good effort. You made a really good effort. …So it's about time you had a rest!" He truly sounded like he was thanking his opponent from the bottom of his heart.

Accelerator's body sank down slightly amid the flames.

With a roar, the white boy shot like a bullet toward Mikoto blowing away even the flames as he went. There were a few dozen meters between them, but he reduced that distance in a blink of an eye.

Tension crawled up from Mikoto's stomach to the top of her throat. She swallowed nervously as Accelerator's hands came ever so close to her. Those hands could convert any vector that they touched and were therefore hands of darkness that could bring death to any living thing. Just by touching the skin, they could cause a human heart to burst from the inside by reversing the flow of the blood via the capillaries and reversing the flow of the bodily electricity via the surface of the skin.

The same hands that had led some of her sisters to a painful and agonizing death. The memories sent phantom pains all throughout her bodies as she relived the memory of countless Misaka Sisters pain and suffering. The phantom pains only lasted a moment her blood began to boil at how her sisters had suffered and died.

Accelerator brought both hands together. His hands were pressed together at the wrist like he was wearing handcuffs and he thrust them toward Mikoto's face.

"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY ACCELERATOR!" Mikoto screamed as she threw out a punch. "Gaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh!"

"HAAHAAHAAA!" Accelerator began to laugh as he saw Mikoto clutching her broken hand. "Do you honestly think that was going to work? A punch? On me? And the electrical discharge following the punch was something you already used. It wasn't going to work on me the second time."

"Bring down the thunder!" Mikoto roared.

"Fuck. Fuck! Fuuuuuucccckkkk!" Accelerator roared as lightning from the sky struck down on him.

This was more electricity than Accelerator had experienced before from Mikoto's attack. This time, a million volts of electricity struck down on him. Like last time, he was able to discharge only a small percentage of the electricity without any harm coming to his body, but he had once more sacrificed his extremities to protect his vital organs. His torso and face that had sported anything between 1st and 2nd degree burns now became 3rd degree burns, while his limbs that had been 3rd degree burns were edging incredibly close to 4th degree burns.

"Aaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhh!" Accelerator screamed as he felt the skin of his limbs burn away.

Mikoto Misaka sported a sadist smile. Normally, she wasn't the type to enjoy inflicting pain or someone's suffering, but she made Accelerator an exception. When she joined the Misaka Network, she absorbed the memories of her dead sisters. She might as well as been the one that suffered and died at Accelerator's hand. That was how strong the memories were. Accelerator needed to pay for what he had done to her sisters.

The ground at Accelerator's feet exploded. His body flew toward Mikoto like a bullet. He had manipulated the shock of his heel hitting the ground. He had used the scattered kinetic energy to double or triple his movement speed.

"What the hell!? Why the hell can't I hit you!?" Accelerator screamed in frustration at his inability to hit Mikoto.

Even with that carnivorous beast-like speed, he could not reach Mikoto. Even if he was faster, his attacks were still easily avoided as long as they could be predicted. It was the same as how a sharp knife was a deadly weapon, but it posed no threat if it was being held by a kindergartener.

Mikoto had the advantage. She was different from Accelerator, who had always his defenses to block just about any attack at him after he began to train in his abilities. Her powers were based around electricity, but she always been vulnerable to danger just as any other human being was. She had to train herself to avoid danger, be it natural or artificial, while Accelerator had never needed to train himself to avoid danger as his abilities prevented danger from harming. It was as simple as who was the trained fighter while the other had the capacity to do incredible amounts of damage, but had no combat training at all.

"Aaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhh!" Accelerator screamed as another bolt of lightning came down upon him and crumbled onto the ground.

Accelerator lifted his upper body and looked forward. When he saw Mikoto Misaka slowly approaching, he dreaded about the fight he had gotten himself into. He had been hurt. He, Accelerator, who automatically reflected all attacks had been hurt. Not just once, but several times when he had never been hurt since learning his abilities beside the natural occurring lightning that had voltage climbing up a billion volts. So pain was an unknown sensation for him. To him, his senses on his skin were just sensors to send pleasure from his skin to his brain. His undeveloped pain sensitivity had almost no resistance to pain, so the intense signals felt like they were burning him.

A normal person would've fainted from any number of Mikoto's electrical attacks. The pain so overwhelming that it was likely caused normal humans to die from shock thanks to the pain induced by the electrical attacks. Accelerator's body was even weaker and more fragile than the average person as he relied wholly on his abilities for everything, including mundane tasks. He had only been able to stand the electrical attacks because while his body was weak, his mind was a completely different matter.

The mind that allowed him to control vectors. A mind that was able to make calculations faster and more accurately then most supercomputers. The same mind that allowed him to kill 10,000 some people in an experiment with his own hands, up close without developing any mental problems. Though, the mind could only do so much without the sufficiently strong body to comply with it.

"…The Sisters were living with everything they had." Mikoto tightly clenched her right hand. "They gathered all their strength and lived. They worked with everything they had." Mikoto gritted her teeth. "How could you kill them?!"

The night wind blew on Mikoto's bangs making them wave like a nameless flower blooming in a graveyard.

 _…Wind?_ Accelerator thought then an idea came to mind. "Hahaahahahaaahahaahaahaaaha!"

Accelerator's power allowed him to change the vectors of anything he touched. Motion, heat, electricity. Whatever kind of power it was, he could freely control it as long as it had a vector. That meant that, if he could grasp the vector of the wind flowing through the atmosphere, he could bring the motion of the giant wind flowing throughout the entire world into his hands!

Accelerator lifted his hands above his head like he was trying to grab the invisible moon.

With a roar, the flow of the wind started to swirl around.

Mikoto's look went from a vengeful one to that of surprise, but it was too late. A large atmospheric swirl that looked like a hole had opened in the earth had taken a spherical form above Accelerator's head. Gravel in the area was swept up with it and that giant swirl of destruction with a radius of a few dozen meters gave its joyous birth cry.

He spread his hands above his head like he was trying to embrace the night sky.

"Compress the air. Compress, compress. Hahn, I see. Excellent. I just thought of something really fucking nice. C'mon, Original. I want to use something that I've never used on your shitty clones. This won't be worth it unless you play along!" Accelerator laughed.

"Cease what you're doing, Accelerator!" Mikoto shouted.

"Or what?! You're going to stop me?" Accelerator laughed.

Mikoto stuck out her arm. A coin lay on the thumb of her clenched fist. Purple electricity was overflowing from her entire body. With just a light flick of her thumb, Mikoto Misaka could fire the coin like a railgun.

But Accelerator did not even glance over at the Railgun. He continued to increase the power of the raging wind as if telling her to go ahead and do it.

"Stop! I warn you once more!" Mikoto yelled.

Accelerator sneered as he spread his arms wide up into the night sky. In the next instant, the wind flowing through the city focused on one point. It was a point 100 meters above Accelerator's head. When the raging wind gathered there, a bright white light appeared as if from welding.

It was plasma. Compressing the air created heat. Internal combustion engines used that fact. By compressing the city's air with a ridiculous compression ratio, it had turned into a mass of heat exceeding 10,000 degrees Celsius. This forcibly caused the atoms in the nearby air to split into cations and electrons which turned them to plasma.

That point of light swallowed up the surrounding air and instantaneously grew to have a radius of 20 meters. The surrounding darkness was annihilated by the pure white light. The heat of 10,000 degrees caused a burning pain on Mikoto's skin.

Mikoto pocketed the coin into her breast pocket and began to smirk. What better way to crush her opponent then by dismantling what was likely Accelerator's greatest attack.

 _This is Misaka-00000. Calling to all sisters. Please lend me your hand._ Mikoto called out, opening herself to the Misaka Network.

A flood of mental responses came to Mikoto's mind. She was still unused being connected to the Misaka Network, but the collective memories of the deceased and currently alive Misaka Sisters gave her some advice how to deal with it.

 _Good. Began the Plan._ Mikoto telepathically announced with a smirk.

\- O -

Shirou and Rin observed. While they were observing from a distance of ten kilometers away, the might as be right there in the battlefield that was home to the battle between Mikoto Misaka and Accelerator. Their use of Reinforcement to the eyes made that possible.

"Shirou, did you plan for this?" Rin asked pointing at the scene.

"No. I was expecting Mikoto to at least have the power to fight Accelerator on equal footing. Nothing like that though." Shirou responded in amazement at what he was seeing.

"What do you mean 'equal footing'?! That is clearly not putting Mikoto on equal footing with Accelerator! You made a monster, Shirou!" Rin screamed as she gripped Shirou's collar and pointed at Accelerator. "THAT A FUCKING LIGHTNING STORM THAT MIKOTO CREATED!"

Lightning storm was a tame description. The mother of all lightning storms had formed on the battlefield that Mikoto and Accelerator was fighting in. It was clearly unnatural as there were no rain or winds that normally accompanied a lightning storm. The artificial lightning storm brought down dozens of lightning strikes onto the battlefield per second. Anything that was hit was melted down and thrown into the air by the explosions created by the lightning strikes. Nothing suffered the lightning strikes and just about everything on the battlefield was melted down to molten slag and turned into glass beside Mikoto and Accelerator.

"Rin, that isn't just Mikoto's work. Likely a creation with the aid of the Misaka Sisters. I also think that lightning storm is part of Mikoto's Reality Marble."

"You say what?!"

\- O -

With a roar of wind, the sphere of plasma floating above lost its form.

"What…?!" Accelerator shouted in shock.

Accelerator looked up. That plasma had been created from all the wind flowing through the city being condensed into one point. It was torn apart by a lightning storm that had appeared out of nowhere. Somehow the plasma was attracted to the lightning and dispersed everywhere.

 _What? What the fuck happened?! There was supposed be no lightning storms today, so how is there one here right now?!_ Accelerator shouted in his mind in confusion.

Accelerator turned around toward Mikoto, who had a triumphant look on her face.

A chill ran down Acclerator's spine when he found who was the one responsible. Mikoto Misaka's nickname was Railgun because of her iconic trademark weapon, a coin shot at supersonic speeds using the principles of a railgun, but she was Academy City's most powerful esper when it came to controlling electricity. He had read Accelerator's file before embarking in the Level 6 Shift Project that involved him killing 20,000 clones of Mikoto Misaka. There was nothing in the file that said she was able to create anything more than a single lightning bolt with a voltage up to a billion volts.

 _How? How did you become so powerful all of a sudden?_ Accelerator thought. Accelerator's red eyes changed to a deadly crimson. "Damn you…! I'll kill you!"

"…Do you really think I'll let you?" Mikoto's voice sounded tiny amid the raging lighting storm, but for some reason her quiet voice seemed to pierce into Accelerator's eardrums.

"Hah. Don't get carried away. At your lower rank, you can't reach me. You can't even slow me down. It's like with vision tests where they only test up to 2.0. The only reason I'm stuck at the same level as you are because Academy City's levels don't go higher than 5." Accelerator spat.

Mikoto Misaka withdrew a gun from her pocket. It was a very strange looking gun compared to revolver or a pistol. It looked more like a sewn-off shotgun, but even shorter barrel than sewn-off. It was a single break-action firearm, meaning that only one bullet could be loaded and fired any given time before another round needed to be loaded in the chamber.

"What is that puny gun for? You created this lightning storm and seem to be able to control it. You could easily kill me with a lightning strike, but instead you are going to use a firearm against me?" Accelerator spat, insulted that Mikoto looked down on him so much. "No firearms can harm me."

His reason told him that no firearms could harm him. So he should be dealing with everything calmly. But something beyond that told him that the firearm was incredibly dangerous. Danger signals were fired from every part of his body. A normal person would have been able to understand those signals as fear of pain.

"Shirou promised me this would work. He said he promised on the honor of his father, Kiritsugu Emiya, that this was the greatest punishment I could deal upon you without killing you. So I intend to find out what he means." Mikoto replied. "So ready yourself, Accelerator!"

Mikoto gave a ferocious, beast-like smile before bringing the gun to bear.

"That isn't going to work! I promise you. You're going to regret not using your lightning storm." Accelerator said arrogantly before he was cut off. "Urk!"

Something impossible happened. The bullet that travelled no faster than a rifle-caliber round slammed into his defenses. Something that would take nothing short of an object with incredible amount of kinetic energy such tank at supersonic speeds. The bullet should never even hope to penetrate his defenses, but somehow it did. It completely ignored his defenses like they didn't exist in the first place.

His slender white body ways blown back by the sheer force of the bullet. He was knocked to the gravel-covered ground where he rolled around with his arms and legs roughly strewn about. He looked down at his body in amazement that there was no wound. Then he came to regret that thought when unbelievable amount of pain unlike even getting struck by lightning caused him to black out in agony.

\- O -

"That was brutal, Shirou. Why did you give Mikoto such a dangerous weapon? An honest to god, Noble Phantasm. Wielded by your father and Heroic Spirit, Kiritsugu Emiya. An incredible powerful A-rank Anti-Magecraft/Mage Noble Phantasm." Rin said in disbelief at Shirou's giving away.

"Relax, there is no way danger of that weapon falling into enemy hands or being used against us. The gun, the Thompson Contender, is merely a weapon to deliver the Noble Phantasm. The Origin Bullet itself is the Noble Phantasm and there is no way in replicating it, unless you're Kiritsugu Emiya or myself." Shirou said in a calming tone.

"Fine, I know that." Rin said as she calmed down. "I understand that we are in no danger from the no longer existing Noble Phantasm, but did you have to give Mikoto that weapon? You made Accelerator take a punishment worse than death – if Accelerator is still alive that is. You crippled his Magic Circuits, something that Academy City doesn't know about but allows Espers to use their Origin-related ability. He made him into a regular human. One of the strongest and most gifted Esper reduced to a normal human. How do you think that will feel, if you were in his place? I would prefer to suicide then live in shame and knowing what I once able to do had been taken away."

"Accelerator deserved it. Death was to kind to him. He killed 10,030 Misaka Sisters, and that is not counting the people he killed before the Level 6 Shift Project. And, I doubt Mikoto has the will to kill someone. So I offered her the next best thing without murdering someone or crippling someone so they couldn't live out their normal lives." Shirou responded.

"Well…" Rin spoke up changing the subject. "I hope Mikoto's victory causes the dismantling the Level 6 Shift Program."

"Oh, it definitely will. A certain frog-faced doctor known as Heavenly Canceller promised he would use his influence to shut down that experiment."

\- O -

Mikoto Misaka down at the weapon in her hands. It was a very unusual looking gun, but it was what it did that made Mikoto want to kiss it. The only reason, why she wasn't kissing it was because how bizarre it would look for a middle-school girl to be kissing a weapon. She had reputation to uphold.

"Are you, Mikoto Misaka?" Someone asked.

She quickly hid the gun in her pockets and turned to see who had talked to her.

"Gekota!" Mikoto squealed in delight as she hugged the frog-faced doctor. She quickly realized that it was a person that she had hugged and quickly let go while apologizing, "I'm sorry doctor."

"No, that is no problem." The doctor said. "I wanted to let you know the patient you brought in will live. If you had brought him any later then there would've been serious complications. The burns he has are incredible bad. Already his body had been infected with a myriad of viruses that could've developed in serious condition."

"So, he will live?" Mikoto asked.

"Yes, he will. I forgot to mention that he went into cardiac arrest, several times. Something that shouldn't have been caused by his severe burns. Do you know what could possibly cause the cardiac arrest?"

"No, I have no clue. I was passing by when I saw him stumble out of the lightning storm with very bad burns all over his body." Mikoto lied.

"Aaaaa, yes. That freak lighting storm that happened to be limited in a very small proportion of Academy City. I wonder what caused that?"

"Heeeheeeee…" Mikoto laughed nervously. "Doctor, is there anything else that is wrong with him?"

"Well there is 3rd degree burns to his torso and head, and 4th degree burns to his limbs. What is most unusual is the lack of AIM Field that he should be giving off naturally. According to our medical files, the patient's name is Accelerator. For an esper, much less the strongest Esper, to not give off an AIM Field is unheard of. It like he is a regular human instead of an esper."

"So, he isn't an esper any longer?" Mikoto asked in shock.

"A lack of AIM Field is attributed to being called a 'normal human'. Following that convention, Accelerator would not be categorized as normal, but we will not know until he conscious and showing a loss of his psychic powers, we will not know."

"So that is what you meant, Shirou, by making him suffer the ultimate punishment. A fitting punishment for someone who wanted to become a Level 6 Esper." Mikoto muttered.

"Is there anything else you want to know?"

"No, that's everything. Please send my regards to Accelerator. Tell him that Mikoto Misaka saved his life." Mikoto said before turning around and making a swift exit.

Mikoto Misaka happily hummed and skipped as she left the hospital. Happy that her sisters had been avenged and that no more of her sisters would die. It was a good day and the future seemed bright.

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

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 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


	16. After Affects

**I just wanted to let you guys know, the rewrite is still happening for the Chapters 1-8. I will re-release them all in one go, so it could take anything from 2 weeks and more for them to appear. While I revise them I will still release new chapters like this one.**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixteen "After Effects"**

In an alley during midnight, there was a long narrow straight alley, with both sides blocked by concrete walls. Seven youths surrounded the one boy in the alleyway. The seven youths were holding onto things like switchblades, batons and any objects that could be used as a weapon and were easy to get legally.

Their eyes were bloodshot. Hungering to tear apart their prey. Someone who was once known as the strongest Esper, Level 5 Rank 1, Accelerator. Many had attempted to win the title of strongest from Accelerator only to be sent into the hospital with injuries or even deaths depending on how Accelerator had felt depending when he was attacked in the past. Now, after the once undefeated Accelerator had been defeated and crippled by Mikoto Misaka, Accelerator was being preyed upon for revenge for those who had been hurt or killed by him.

 _Wasn't I doing the right thing back then? Those hooligans I sent to the hospital or killed had been the ones attacking me. I had only been acting in self-defense. So, what I did was justified._ Accelerator thought. "What do you want? If it's money you want then you can have it." Accelerator said as he threw out his wallet from his pockets.

"Oh my god, do you see this, bro."

"I see, bro. The mighty Accelerator reduced to a defenseless teenager."

The hooligans began to laugh.

Accelerator gritted his teeth. Accelerator had lost count how many times he had been tracked down, forced into the alleyway and surrounded by hooligans since being discharged from the hospital and his crippled condition becoming well known. The first few weeks since the loss of his psychic powers had resulted in him in and out of the hospital several times for injuries inflicted by hooligans, who wanted revenge on him for his past deeds.

"I've dropped my wallet. You can take the money. Can you please just let me go?" Accelerator said in a polite tone, biting back the urge to say something rude.

"Poor Accelerator. He was so hurt by Mikoto Misaka that he lost his abilities."

"I heard he doesn't even emit an AIM Field anymore."

"Are you serious? Even Level 0s who don't show any abilities emit an AIM field."

"Oh, my god. Why does he even go by the name Accelerator then. Wasn't that his nickname as an Esper? Are you telling me that his name is legitimately, Accelerator?! Ahaahaaaahaaaa!"

Accelerator had just come back from a convenience store so he was holding onto a plastic bag with a shop brand on it. The plastic bag was swaying about, and there were more than ten cans of something like coffee in that fully filled bag. Or at least, that was what it looked like.

"Is that a…?"

The hooligans attempted to plug their ears and close their eyes as quickly as possible, but it was too late. They were to slow in their reactions. The flashbang that was hidden amongst Accelerator's shopping hit the ground before going off. Producing blinding light and ear-deafening sound.

"Just because I don't have my powers anymore doesn't mean I'm defenceless!" Accelerator shouted as he began to plummet the closest hooligan, who was blinded and deafened by the flashbang.

The effects of the flashbang lasted half a minute, more than enough time for Accelerator to knock unconscious 3 out of the 7 hooligans.

"You're going to pay for that mother fucker-!" The hooligan shouted before he was he was cut off.

Another flashbang went off. That was another half a minute of time that Accelerator had to plummet the rest of the hooligans to unconsciousness while they were disorientated.

"Thank god, one of the scientist from the cancelled Level 6 Shift Project had the sympathy to help me out." Accelerator said thankfully to the new additions that had helped him deal with the recent encounters of hooligans. "I better check if they need any maintenance." He muttered to himself as he lightly tapped his eyes and began to clear his ears out. "System check."

"All systems are full functional, Accelerator-sama. Schedule maintenance does not occur for another 51 second, 31 minutes and 78 hours." A voice spoke into Accelerator's ears.

Academy City never ceased to amaze Accelerator. It was said that Academy City was two to three decades ahead in science and technology than the rest of the world. One such product of Academy City's science and technology was the ocular and audial implants. The implants offered a staggering number options that was not possible with the natural human eyes and ears, one such instantons polarization and hearing muting that allowed him to be immune to the effects of a flashbang.

"What were you called again, I forgot." Accelerator muttered.

"The Visual and Audial Enhancement Protocols or VAEP for short as many people have come to call me, Accelerator-sama."

Something that had come with the ocular and audial implants had been an incredible advanced Artificial Intelligence that was housed in the implants themselves and had the processing power to compete with even low-end supercomputers. The purpose of the AI was to assist in him, Accelerator, whenever possible with the implants.

"VAEP, please call the authorities. And also forward all the data you picked up from my implants as proof that this was a case of self-defense."

"Of course, Accelerator-sama."

"Now, what should I do?"

\- O -

In another alleyway, Mikoto Misaka was in a very similar position to Accelerator.

"Man, I hate to hit a girl."

"Bro, you're being sexist. Today is the time of gender equality. Lady's first and not hitting women is something that you shouldn't care about."

"That's why you don't have a girlfriend, bro!"

"Don't bring this up now, bro!"

"Shut it you two! Now isn't the time for that. We got ourselves Level 5 Rank 1, Railgun, Mikoto Misaka trapped. If we defeat her then we have the title of Strongest in Academy City for ourselves."

"I'm starting to regret defeating Accelerator." Mikoto sighed. "None of you can defeat me. So why are you going to bother?"

"You're not Accelerator with his former reflect ability. So, this is going to work." A hooligan said as he withdrew a gun from his pocket and pointed it at Mikoto. The hooligan fired the pistol.

At Level 5, Mikoto's mental capacity far outstripped a great majority of humanity – not intelligence-wise, but in the output and input of information for the brain to process. Her brain could crunch out the likely path and how fast the bullet was moving in an instant. She just had to move her body in a way with that new information. That resulted in Mikoto predicting the bullet and how to avoid the danger.

"Are you serious?! She didn't even use her psychic powers and avoided a bullet a point-blank range."

"No, she is not the reason. You fucked up."

"How can I fuck up at this distance! I shot her from less than five meters away! Do you know how fast a bullet travels!"

"That's why I told you bro, pistols are for pussies. You got to use a proper weapon of a gangster. Like this big boy, the MAC-10."

The newly revealed weapon was unlike the puny-looking semi-automatic pistol. It was something like an older brother, who was muscled up and large compared to his younger and smaller brother. MAC-10. That was the name of the new weapon. Unlike the earlier used pistol, it fired as long as the trigger was held down and there was ammo. When the gun was fired it was like a machine gun, but unlike a machine gun that fired rifle-calibre rounds, pistols-caliber rounds were fired.

The bullets all stopped from hitting Mikoto and remained suspended in the air.

"Shit!" The hooligans screamed as Mikoto sent back the bullets at them.

Many of the hooligans had fainted. They had expected to be killed by the bullets. No intending to kill them, Mikoto slowed down the velocity of the bullets down significant at the last moment. When the hooligans were hit, they suffered bruises and bone fractures. Those few hooligans that didn't faint began to ran away. Some of them staying behind to grab their unconscious comrades, and then run away.

Mikoto pocketed out her phone and pressed the recent addition to her phone, a thin layer of transparent crystal that covered her screen.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Konori-senpai. It's me, Mikoto Misaka."

"Misaka-san, how many times have I told you. Please call me by my real name, Rin Tohsaka." Rin said over the phone.

"Sorry, force of habit. I'm still not used to that. Tohsaka-senpai."

"Anyways... Why did you call?"

"I'm calling to report another incident."

"Hooligans attacked you again?" Rin sighed. "This is the 58th incident this month. The 197th incident since you defeated Accelerator."

"Don't blame me, Senpai! I didn't fight Accelerator for this to happen. I did it to save my sisters." Mikoto protested.

"I understand. Anti-Skill is pestering me to tell you that you should directly call them instead of me."

"Is it that obvious?"

"How isn't obvious? There has been 197th incidents with just you alone. Do you know how many more incidents have been caused by your sisters?"

"Let me guess? A thousand?"

"Are you serious, Misaka-san?! It's fifty-thousand incidents in a span of two months. Involving nearly ten thousand of your sisters."

"Thank god, Anti-Skills hasn't contacted my mother about my sisters. I can only imagine how my mother will react to learn there are nearly 10,000 clones of me..."

"…"

"If you could call Anti-Skill and report it from a tip of an anonymous source, I would be grateful. Thanks, Tohsaka-senpai."

"Fine, I will. Just call me if you need anything."

"Okay, I will." Mikoto replied before ending the call.

Mikoto looked at the thin, transparent crystal that went over her phone screen like a screen protector. It was an object that represented something that she had never believed was real. Magic and Magicians existed – though for some strange reason, Shirou and Rin protested vehemently that they were correctly called it was properly called Magecraft and Mages, respectively. Something that she had dismissed as fairy tales and something that was misunderstood for what had become known as psychic powers and their users, Espers.

Magic was real and she couldn't deny it, not after seeing Shirou and Rin demonstrate time and time again abilities that were outside an Esper's speciality. Shirou had demonstrated a wide range of elemental abilities such as fire, water, air and earth-based abilities while Rin had done the same with matter manipulation that she called alchemy. The strongest and irrevocable proof that magic was real to Mikoto was how Rin had used a magic circle to conduct a magic ritual to connect her to the Misaka Network.

She shivered. It had been nearly two months since she had defeated Accelerator and joined in the Misaka Network. Mikoto was still getting used to be part of it. She had learned to tune out the constant flex of information going in and out of the Misaka Network, but it was still unnerving to learn everything that her brain did was being recorded, but thankfully it was less unnerving to know that the only people with access to those records happened to be her sisters, who she trusted more than anyone in the world, as she had gone through all their memories to learn who they truly were. And she as the administrator of the Misaka Network could restrict who had access to her memories.

 _Is there anyone nearby?_ Mikoto asked, broadcasting her thoughts over the Misaka Network.

 _Is there something you need, Onee-sama?_ One of her sister's replied.

 _Who is this?_

 _This is Misaka-13451._

Mikoto had mixed feelings about how her sisters called themselves. The good thing about them using her surname followed by numbers in their names made it unnecessary to remember the names of her sisters. If they all had a unique name, it would be a nightmare to remember. Nearly ten thousand names... What saddened was her sisters' use of her surname and numbers, which constantly remembered her of the Level 6 Shift Project that had been cancelled. 10,030 of her sisters had died. She was also reminded of those who had died and the project that she wanted to forget about. She had once asked her sisters if they wanted to change their names, but they refused saying it was part of who they were and their past.

 _Can you cover for me? Kuroko would worry and I would get into trouble with the dorm supervisor._

 _Onee-sama, you ain't going out past curfew to buy Gekota merchandise, are you?_

 _Of course, not!_ Mikoto protested, but something told her that her sister didn't believe her.

 _Well have fun, Onee-sama._ Misaka-13451 responded and before she cut of the connection, Mikoto swore she heard her sister was laughing evilly like she was planning to do something that Mikoto didn't like was going to happen.

"Well the sisters, have gotten more lively." Mikoto said happily as a smirk quickly found itself on Mikoto's face. "I don't even need to go to class anymore. I can have the sisters cover for everything since they look and sound exactly the same as I. Heeheeeeeheeee…"

\- O -

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko screamed happily.

"Oh hey, Kuroko." Misaka-13451 replied as she entered the room and closed the door behind.

"Onee-sama, it's so good to be able touch and smell you again." Kuroko announced as she began to sniff and hug Misaka. "Heeeheeeeheeee…" Kuroko began to crackle evilly as her hands began to roam over Misaka's body. "I missed this!"

"Kuroko?"

"Yes, Onee-sama?!" Kuroko shouted happily in blissful tone like she was in nirvana as she snuggled against Misaka's body and let her hands roam freely.

"Do you love me?" Mikoto asked.

"… Why did you say, Onee-sama?!" Kuroko chirped, not believing what she had just heard.

"I just asked you if you love me?"

"Of course, I love you! Onee-sama!" Kuroko pronounced.

"In what fashion?" Misaka asked as she tilted her head.

"I-I-In W-w-wh-what way?!" Kuroko spluttered at the impossibility that she was hearing her Onee-sama said to her.

"I wanted to know what kind of love you had for me."

"…" Kuroko could only stare in silence as she carefully thought how to word her response because her Onee-sama wasn't acting how she usually did. Then she realized her Onee-sama hadn't reacted like she normally would. "Onee-sama are you okay?"

"Are you asking that question in response from lack of shocking you usually get when you grab my breasts or any other part of my body in a perverted nature? I also wanted to ask. Are you a maochoist? Are you trying to turn me into a sadist by getting me to shock you? Do you want that _kind_ of a relationship?" Misaka inquired with a straight face.

"Onee-sama! Of course not!" Kuroko protested.

"Then why do you seem to enjoy getting shocked after doing something perverted?"

"…"

"Just kidding, don't worry, Kuroko." Misaka said as she had her amusement before reigning in her mischievous urge. "Judgement training was relatively easy. Well the physical training and where they tested my psychic powers. It was learning about all the regulations and etc that was troubling, but I somehow made it through."

"How did you make it through?" Kuroko said in shock, remembering that her Onee-sama couldn't at all for her life follow many of the regulations that Judgement followed like no property damage when possible and excessive use of violence.

"Tohsaka-senpai helped out."

"Tohsaka-senpai? Is that someone in Judgement you made friends with at the training camp?"

"Oh, I forgot. Konori-senpai, keeps telling to call her by her recently and legally changed name, Rin Tohsaka. Do you know anything about that?"

"Oh, Konori-senpai." Kuroko said as she finally understood. "Now that you mention that, I have been seeing that gentleman a lot. The guy called Shirou Emiya that Konori-senpai had 'conscripted'." She began to wag her brows in a suggestive manner. "I think he has a serious relationship by how Konori-senpai reacts so differently around him."

Misaka frowned. Her elder sister and sisters found Shirou Emiya, birth name Touma Kamijou, and Rin Tohsaka, who was just changed her name and formerly known as Mii Konori, was an incredible mystery. After the influence Mikoto's memories had upon her joining the Misaka Network, the Misaka Sisters had come to enjoy live, but when they weren't doing that they were doing all they could to find out magic and their practitioners. The real kind and not the false information that was everywhere in the internet, books and popular culture. She had her sisters had failed to find any conclusive information that could be deemed as true and as facts. There was too much information that contradicted each other and what little they had come from Mikoto's memories of the elder sister's interaction with Shirou and Rin.

"Did they show any unusual behavior and talk about anything related to the occult?" Misaka inquired.

"None that you mention that, Onee-sama… They have been talking a lot about the Occult like you said. Here is what I've overheard…"

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave your comments and criticism on the reviews. T** **he more detailed the better, will allow me to see my flaws and fix them.**

 **Follow and Favorite. I am encouraged to write by the number of Follows and Favourites so please tag this story!**

 **Oh and check my other fanfics.**

 **Leona-do**


End file.
